Lincoln Prep hosts Ringgold for Homecoming tilt
Lincoln Prep receiver Trey Spann (5) lines up against a Haynesville defender last week. The Panthers host Ringgold tonight for Homecoming. Photo by Tony Valentino
Losing can sometimes work as the best motivator for a team.
And after falling to the class of Class 1A in Haynesville 45-6 last week, drive and desire to bounce back appears to be present for a young Lincoln Prep (3-2, 1-1 district) team, who still has so much to play for over the final month of the regular season — already up to No. 19 in the Division IV select power ratings.
Head coach Glen Hall didn’t even show the Panthers film from last week’s loss, feeling that would only make his young team feel discouraged. He knew the last thing they needed was to feel down. Instead, he told his team to get back to work and prepare to respond this week against Ringgold (2-3, 1-1 district).
Heading into tonight’s Homecoming game, Hall has seen the message hit home in practice, seeing his team focused on the details of winning.
“We’ve practiced harder this week than we did last week,” Hall said. “You can see we took something out of the loss. Sometimes, it takes a loss to set you up for your next win. You start to take it more seriously. I’m proud of the older guys who have stepped up in some leadership roles. They’ve practiced well for this game.”
Last week’s loss looked big on the scoreboard, but the Panthers had chances to stun the Golden Tornado out of the gate and stay closer later in the game. Prep recovered a Haynesville fumble two plays in and eventually got inside the Golden Tornado 22, but turned the ball over on downs after a penalty backed them up into undesirable play calling situations.
Prep had 3 defensive takeaways in the game, matching Haynesville in the turnover battle. But the difference was the Golden Tornado scored 21 points off the miscues while Prep didn’t.
Haynesville also ran the ball at will, rushing for over 200 yards as a team – running over the Panthers in more ways than one with dozens of missed tackles.
Hall said the focus of practice this week has been tackling with better technique.
“We’ve worked on our tackling angles, and we’ve gotten the tackling wheel and the sled, each other, and everything else you’d need to work on it,” Hall said. “It’s not like they don’t know how but sometimes when you’re down so much it can be hard to get them to stay as sharp. They know it’s on them and no one else to do that.”
Ringgold isn’t your typical Homecoming opponent, according to Hall. He sees a team that may lack physicality up front but makes up for it with dynamic athletes at big skill positions. However, record wise, Ringgold is 5-36 over the previous five seasons and has been outscored 98-6 in its last two games.
“People don’t understand, they have a big receiver — about 6-3 or so. The quarterback is good, and they’ve got a good running back,” Hall said. “These guys can score. If we just go out there and stand around, they can score on us. We don’t want that because we’d like to play some younger guys if we can.”
Lincoln Prep has explosive athletes to account for as well, led by senior D’Tavion Wright, who had 125 total yards of offense last week. But Wright’s workload could end up being lighter than normal after he left last week’s game with a right leg injury. Hall said his bell cow tailback should be ready to play tonight, but if not, he’ll trust fellow seniors Jaylin Huntley and Verlanski Glosson to handle the carries.
Huntley took his lone carry for a 44yard touchdown against Haynesville.
“The trainers did a good job with him [ Wright] and worked with him this weekend to try to get him ready. He practiced Tuesday and ran well, so we’ll what he does,” Hall said.
A win tonight would be the most for Lincoln Prep since the 2021 season when the Panthers won seven games.
With a chance for a win, combined with Homecoming festivities, Hall expects a good crowd turnout.
“It’ll be a good crowd. Every time we play at home, we always have a good crowd,” Hall said. “We live in a great community and they give us great support. They always come to games.”
Lincoln Prep (3-2, 1-1 district) hosts Ringgold (2-3, 1-1 district) tonight at Panther Field for Homecoming. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
