LUMBERTON – The Panthers had their chances to preserve their perfect record last week against Heidelberg, but a fumbled snap with less than two minutes was a big difference in the ballgame.
The loss hurts the win-loss column, sure, but in reality, it might benefit the team moving forward.
“Without a doubt,” Jones confirmed. “I hate to say this, but there are little things that we’ve probably been neglecting, as coaches and players. It’s hard to fix those things when you’re winning. We lost to a really good Heidelberg team Friday night, and maybe some things got our attention so we can go back and get those fix and become a better football team.”
Like Jones said last week, he always wants to win football games. However, if it makes his team better for district play and playoffs, he’s fine with the outcome. If that means his team learning from the mistakes after a loss, then using that to get better, he’s OK.
“(Heidelberg is) a team, when it’s all said and done, they can make a run in the 2A south, and we knew that when we scheduled them,” Jones said. “Unlike teams in our district, we don’t try to schedule wins. We schedule people who are going to make us better.”
This week’s opponent, Franklin County, might not look like a team that will make Lumberton better, but there’s more than its 0-3 record. The Bulldogs have lost to two schools in bigger classifications (North Pike and South Pike), then another team their same size (Seminary) that’s 2-1 with its lone loss to Poplarville.
The latter two losses, however, have been shutouts.
“If we’re looking at their record and judging them on that, we’re going to be in another bind,” Jones said. “It’s going to take our best effort to have a chance to win Friday night.”
Heidleberg’s quarterback did most of the damage to Lumberton last week, and Jones said his team will have to face another solid signal caller this week, but they’re two different types players.
“They like to run the quarterback, and they like to get outside of you,” he said. “Their quarterback isn’t as big as the one from Heidelberg, but he’s a lot faster, so we’re gong to have to do a good job of containing him to give ourselves a chance.”
Franklin County’s defense has kept the team in each game, though. It has only allowed 24 points per game, giving up 20 and 25 points in two shutouts the past two weeks. Jones likes the size of the Bulldogs’ defensive line and a big linebacker who’s 6-foot-2, 225 pounds.
“I scheduled these first four to try to make it like a playoff run would be at the end to get us ready for that,” Jones said. “We know we’re going to have our hands full, and those mistakes we made last week, we hope we won’t make this week and we’ll have a chance at the end.”
