The Heidelberg Oilers handed Lumberton its first loss of the season in 2017, and it was a game coach Zach Jones thought his team had a chance in winning. Jones and the Panthers have always said they take it one game at a time, but there’s some sort redemption factor that’s involved in Friday night’s contest.
“They beat us 20-18 and we had our chances,” Jones said. “They outplayed us and they deserved to win, but in the ballgame, we had a chance to at the end. Hopefully, that’ll light a fire in us Friday night.
“It better be a game that we’re looking forward to, because if we don’t play well Friday night then we’ll fail.”
The Panthers have started the season 2-0 for the second straight year and they’ve picked up 774 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground on 100 carries. Sophomore Robert Henry continues to impress with his second straight game with at least 130 rushing yards, totaling 302 yards through two games and five scores. Senior Davion Edwards has rushed for 197 yards and two scores to add to the impressive numbers.
Lumberton is on pace for more than 4,200 rushing yards this season, and the success Lumberton has seen so far hasn’t surprised Jones at all.
“I knew our strength was going to be running the football,” he said. “We have most of our offensive linemen back, and those guys really worked hard over the offseason. We have five or six guys we feel comfortable running the football, and that’s our strength so we have to play to that strength.”
On the other side of the ball, Lumberton has only allowed one touchdown through the first two games. North Forrest scored on a kickoff return in Week 1, and Bay High was only able to scratch across one offensive touchdown, even though it has more than 300 rushing yards.
The biggest reason why Lumberton is holding opponents to few points is its turnover margin. So far through eight quarters of football, the Panthers have collected nine fumbles on defense.
Despite the success, Jones still believes they can play better.
“We’re not playing as good as I want defensively, if that makes sense,” Jones said. “We’re creating turnovers but we have some things we want to get shored up.”
The Oilers had to replace their quarterback and running back from 2017, but they do have some key returners to the offensive line. So far, 2A Heidelberg has beaten 5A Wingfield, 26-12, and 3A Southeast Lauderdale, 20-14.
“They’ve got a lot of their line back and their skill guys are young guys, but man they’re really good players,” Jones said. “They like to run the football; they run a little option to make you respect the quarterback. It looks like from the first game to the second game, they’re getting better throwing the football.”
Defensively, two big 6-foot-2 and 6-3, 275-pound players have caught Jones’ eye from watching the film. It’ll be tough for the Lumberton offensive line to move those guys around, but it’s up for the task.
“I don’t see a weakness in them,” Jones said of the Oilers’ defense.
