Lincoln Prep stifled by Red River 14-0 at Bayou Jamb

The sun emerged from a thick wall of gray clouds to welcome the second day of the Bayou Jamb with open arms on Saturday, with the Lincoln Prep Panthers taking on the Red River Bulldogs at Joe Aillet Stadium.

Lincoln Prep’s offense wasn’t all sunshine, though, as the Bulldogs claimed a 14-0 victory.

Red River came to Ruston without a band, but they took care of the marching duties right out of the gate on offense.

The Bulldogs moved down the field with efficiency, with three first down pickups on chunk plays courtesy of junior quarterback Tyler Hughes and the Bulldog offense. The Panthers began the first drive on defense with some tackling issues and third-down trouble, allowing the Bulldogs to continue their opening drive.

Red River punched in the first points of the game on a short handoff to Leonard Mosley for a one-yard plunge and took a 7-0 lead after burning nearly six minutes of clock in the first half. The games at this year’s Bayou Jamb were played with 12 minute halves.

“I saw that we can play defense. In the end, we got a little fatigued,” Lincoln Prep head coach Glen Hall said. “I’m going to fix that. As a team we won’t be tired anymore.”

“I’m gonna take over the running and I’m going to go old school,” he added.

The Panther defense held strong the rest of the first half and got off the field on third downs and didn’t allow the Bulldogs to score again in the half.

When it came time for the Panther offense to take the field, running back Chauncey Harper’s name was called from the first play — and kept busy the rest of the game. Harper took six handoffs in the first half, but the Panthers couldn’t find any momentum on offense and only ran six plays before intermission.

Lincoln Prep punted twice in the first half on offense.

“He’s my bell-cow,” Hall said of Harper. “The guy has been with me for five years. He gotta step up and he gotta work extra. He gotta help carry this team.”

Along with his offensive skills, Harper picked Hughes off to end the first half.

The Panthers’ second half on offense was much the same as the first — scoreless due to penalties and no momentum.

Bralyn Mayfield, Lincoln Prep’s new quarterback, completed 2-of-4 in the game and his first pass didn’t come until early in the second half. Mayfield also had two rushes for two yards.

“We didn’t execute on our blocks and the (running backs) couldn’t run like we wanted them to,” Hall said. “We saw some good things on third down and short.”

Red River seemed to be on the verge of another long scoring drive midway through the second half, moving down to the red zone. But after a penalty called back a touchdown run from the Bulldogs, the Panthers forced Red River to attempt a field goal.

The Panthers caught a break after the Bulldogs missed the attempt and held their 7-0 lead with 5:19 left to play.

Lincoln Prep couldn’t string together a scoring drive to tie the game up and quickly gave the ball back to the Bulldogs to finish things off in the Bayou Jamb’s opening tilt.

The Bulldogs punched in another rushing score with under two minutes to play, increasing the lead and eventual final score to 14-0.

Harper, Lincoln Prep’s standout player on the day, left the game with an injury. Hall said it’s nothing to be concerned about at this point. Another player, Xavion Hamilton, went out with a leg injury in the first half and didn’t return for Prep.

“They say nothing broke, he just got hit in the ribs, just a bruise,” Hall said about Harper.

Harper ended the day with 6 carries for 17 yards. Lincoln Prep will open the regular season at Madison Friday night.