For the first two seasons Zach Jones has been the head coach of Lumberton, his team has had some wild games against North Forrest, and 2017 shouldn’t be any different.
The only difference in this year’s contest is it’s Week 1 instead of Week 2, and there is always potential for craziness in the first game of the season.
“They have a good football team, and (North Forest head) coach (Anthony) Dillon has done a great job,” Jones said. “They came back and won their division last year, and they have a lot of those guys back. We’re going to have our hands full Friday night to try and give ourselves a chance to win the ballgame.”
Lumberton will travel to North Forrest for a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday night.
Lumberton played Magee in the Lamar County Jamboree last Friday, and Jones said he saw some things he wants to see his team fix, but that was expected.
“I thought we played hard,” he said. “I guess it was about where I thought we were. We still have a lot of stuff we have to clean up on our end to get where we want to be. You’re not going to be perfect this time of year, and we know that.”
The Panthers entered the season with a running back by committee game plan, and four players saw playing time last week – Krishaun Fairley, Davion Edwards, Robert Henry and Ahmad Dalton. Another expected running back, Driq Coleman, didn’t play in the jamboree.
The running backs made some good runs throughout the night, but a fumble after a long drive put a damper on their successes. Edwards scored one of the two touchdowns, making a sweeping run to the left side, and quarterback Jared Tribett had a quarterback sneak touchdown, too.
Jones was quick to point out how his team wasn’t taking what the defense was giving them. Since it was a jamboree, they had a script they were following instead of calling plays they know would be successful.
“I thought we ran the football hard, but we just have to finish it and hold on to the football,” Jones said. “It doesn’t do any good to have a 20-yard run then turn it over at the end of the run. We’ve got to make sure we can protect to the football, and we will. Coach (Anthony) Harry does a good job and we’ll work on that this week to get that fixed.”
Jones said North Forrest features some good skill guys on defense, but the game is going to be won or lost with the battle between Lumberton’s offensive line and North Forrest’s defensive line.
North Forrest returns a quarterback in Daylyn Croom, who passed for 1,941 yards 20 touchdowns and 14 interceptions on 112-of-209 (54 percent) passing. Leon Jones is returning as the team’s leading receiver, too.
“Daylyn Croom, their quarterback, I think it starts with them,” Jones said. “He’s special. He can beat you through the air and he can beat with his feet. He did really well against Tylertown and Hattiesburg (in last week’s jamboree), and that’s two pretty good teams who he showed out against. We’re going to try and limit him.
“They have a good receiver, Leon Jones. He can really go up and get it. He’s a big-bodied kid. All of those guys are explosive players. It’s going to take a great effort from our defense to try and limit those guys.”
Lumberton’s pass defense had some busted coverages against Magee, but that’s an easy fix for Jones and his coaches. The run defense played well all night except one long run early in the game.
“They got the one long run on kind of a broken play,” Jones said. “We kind of let our disciple relax a little bit (on our pass defense), and we can’t do that Friday night, because they have some guys who can torch us if we do. Our motto is ‘Do you job,’ and we have to do our job this week and do what we’re supposed to do.”
Lumberton hits the road for North Forrest Friday at 7 p.m.
