Lumberton is set to have its biggest matchup of the season thus far as the Panthers host Mount Olive.
Lumberton (3-2, 2-0) comes off a 42-16 victory over Richton. In the win, Rodney Parker and Shavante Toney combined to rush for 350 yards and five touchdowns.
“I feel like the team has gelled,” Lumberton coach Jonathan Ladner said. “I basically hired an entirely new staff. I feel like our staff has gelled over the last few weeks. I kind of feel like things are trending in the right direction.
“Playing that rough schedule early, we knew that if we could weather the storm and get through it that it was going to make us better when we got into our region competition. It’s paid off. Our guys are playing at a higher level. We are playing really fast. It’s made a difference in playing that rough schedule and has prepared us and helped us. We have seen some pretty elite guys on the defensive side of the ball early in the season.”
Yet this week, the Panthers will take on Mount Olive (4-1, 1-1), which lost its first game of the season to Taylorsville 14-8. According to Ladner, the game is by no means an indication of a lack of talent for the Pirates, but instead, he saw that field conditions played a more prominent role in the matchup.
“I think field conditions had a lot to do with it,” Ladner said. “It was really wet, and it looked like it rained some during the game. I think that attributed to some uncharacteristic mistakes that they had not been making in the first five weeks of the season.
“They didn’t play their best game, and Taylorsville played pretty sound. Mt. Olive had other guys make some plays. It didn’t work out for them, but I would rather play them coming off a win against Taylorsville rather than a loss. They are going to play desperate and will want to stay in the mix.”
Mount Olive has outscored teams 158-56 this season. The Pirates are led on offense and defense by Quandarius Hubbard. As a running back, Hubbard has rushed for 766 yards and 10 touchdowns on 68 carries. Hubbard is second on the team with tackles as he posts 19 along with an interception and a fumble recovery.
“The thing about Hubbard is that he brings an extra gear,” Ladner said. “He’s shifty and quick, but if he gets in the open field, then he can get away from you. I guess that’s the separator between those good running backs and great running backs is that extra gear of being able to outrun people.
“If he gets loose, we’ll struggle catching him. We are going to try and box him up and make him play in the phone book. If he’s the focal point of the offense, then we will do our best to stop him, but you can’t overlook those other guys. He’s going to get his. He is good enough that he is going to get what he is going to get. We just can’t let him get wound up and break the long run.”
However, according to Ladner, the Pirates have several other notable contributors that cannot be overlooked. Along with Hubbard, the Pirates use three other running backs that they regularly call upon. Marcus Baggett and Austin Haynes have combined to rush for 354 yards and three touchdowns on 60 carries. Another key contributor for both sides of the ball is Malichi Mickel, who has run for 169 yards and two touchdowns. On defense, Mickel leads the team with 27 tackles and six tackles for loss while also registering two sacks and two interceptions.
“They are a really good football team,” Ladner said. “They are sound on defense and get after it. (Hubbard) is the unquestioned leader, but they have some really good guys that compliment him.
“We are going to have to block well. They are going to bring pressure on defense. Then defensively, we’ll have to be gap sound and tackle well. Those athletes are tough to defend in space. If we block better than them, tackle better than them, and execute and take care of the football, I think those will determine who wins the game on Friday night.”
