In what seems like déjà vu from 2017, the Lumberton Panthers have a chance to clinch the region title in the second-to-last game of the regular season against a potent Stringer Red Devils team.
Lumberton traveled to Stringer last season and earned the win, clinching its second straight region championship, but now the Red Devils (9-1, 4-0) go down to Lumberton to try and spoil its chance at a third straight title.
Lumberton coach Zach Jones likes to take games week-by-week, saying whoever is on the schedule is the most important game of the season, but there’s no way to hide the importance of Friday night.
“You can’t hide things from kids,” Jones said. “I want them to know (it’s for the region title) to an extent because they’ve worked hard and put themselves in position to do this, but it’s the most important game because it’s the next game. We’re going to take that same mentality that we always do. It’s the next game, so we have to get up and get ready to play.”
The Panthers set up Friday night’s crucial game with a rare dominant 44-6 win over rival Resurrection. Senior quarterback Jared Tribett passed for 178 yards and two touchdowns, sophomore Robert Henry collected his eighth 100-yard game this season with a 141-yard performance and senior Daylan Young added four receptions for 173 yards and two scores.
“I don’t think we played our best ballgame but we went down there and took care of business,” Jones said. “We were focused and we locked in when we got opportunities to score. I thought our offensive line blocked well and opened up some holes early, then Daylan kind of exploded. Jared hit him with two long passes, so our passing game exploded for us this week. I was pleased.”
The win locked up a home playoff game for Lumberton, and neither Stringer nor Lumberton can finish worse than second in the region. Friday night’s winner will earn the top seed with one more game left in the regular season. The Panthers’ first goal every season is to earn home-field advantage, and they have a chance to accomplish their second goal Friday night.
Stinger features a rushing attack that averages 269 yards per game with a passing attack that picks up 100 more yards. Its lone loss came Week 1 against Bay Springs, and the Red Devils have won nine straight games since.
Like last season, Stringer entered this game 9-1 before Lumberton handed it a 30-25 loss. But, Jones believes this Red Devils team is better.
“They play hard, they play physical and they want to run the football,” Jones said. “They have a really good running back and they’re playing with a group of kids who probably started as sophomores. They’ve been building for this, so they’re a year older, a year bigger and a year stronger. I think defensively is where you see the improvement.”
In the last four games, Stringer’s defense has pitched two shutouts against Resurrection (30-0) and Salem (54-0) while holding Mount Olive to six points and East Marion to 18.
Offensively, senior running back Anthony Thomas leads the way with 1,388 yards and 18 touchdowns on 95 carries, while senior quarterback Cayleb Dyess is second with 445 rushing yards and six touchdowns on 59 attempts. Dyess also adds 929 passing yards on 43 percent passing with 14 touchdowns to two interceptions.
“(Thomas) looks to be a little thicker than he’s been in the past, so it’ll be a challenge for us to shut him down,” Jones said. “We know he’s their bell cow, but they can throw it, too. They have a good quarterback and two good receivers. Their offensive style is a little different; they’re probably more (shot)gun then we are, but there are a lot of similarities.”
