New era begins at Lincoln Prep

Lincoln Prep is ready to usher in a new era of Panther football with its first true home game in three years.

Prep begins the season against the Madison Jaguars Thursday at 7 p.m. The address for Prep’s new school/field is 1453 West Martin Luther King Jr. Ave in Grambling.

After months of construction and multiple on-field practices, the Panthers’ new home field will welcome fans to the permanent site and give the young team a chance to finally feel the true community support for which they’ve longed.

“It’s gonna be a big deal, and we’ll tell our coaches to impress on the players and relay to them that yes, it’s a big game, but play every game like it’s not a big game,” Lincoln Prep head coach Glenn Hall said. “If you come out excited and come out in bad position then you won’t be ready to play. But being out there on the field will be a big deal for them.”

Temporary bleachers are in place at the field for fans, as permanent bleachers will arrive toward the end of the season. Lawn chairs are allowed from spectators.

As for the matchup, Madison went 3-7 overall and 0-6 in district play last season, including a 14-6 loss to Lincoln Prep. The Jaguars, a 2A program, averaged 12 points per game last season and had a rough go of it in the final half of the year, scoring nine total points over their last five games.

But Hall wants to shorten the game with Prep’s run-heavy offense and keep the passheavy offense of Madison off the field and unable to run up the score. Hall likes the build of the Jaguars’ pass-catchers and believes, if the Panthers don’t tackle properly, they could create explosive screen plays and yards- after- catch damage.

“They’ve got some big, tall receivers and they’ve got a quarterback that can run and throw,” Hall said. “They’ve got some fast athletes over there. Our thing is we want to shorten the game with the run, and we’ll take our own shots, but we’ll try and be smart with it.”

Lincoln Prep hosts Madison on its new turf field Thursday at 7 p.m.