Panthers looking to go 2-0 in young season

The Pine Prairie Panthers are 1-0 on the season after an exciting 12-6 overtime victory over the North Central Hurricanes. The win gives the Panthers some much-needed confidence going into week two. Pine Prairie will travel to play the East Beauregard Trojans on Friday night.
Against North Central, the Panthers’ offense totaled 166 yards in 53 plays. Most of Pine Prairie’s offense came on the ground, as they rushed for 126 yards. But, it was the missed opportunities in the passing game that Head Coach Yves Prince pointed to as a reason the game was closer than it should have been. “We dropped a lot of passes against North Central,” said Prince. “Our receivers need to be able to hang on to the ball better than they are. If we catch some of those passes, we win by a bigger margin of victory. It is something we will have to work on at practice this week. They did do a good job of running routes and getting open”
Prince complimented his offensive and defensive lines on their play against North Central. “Our guys up front did a lot better than they did against Basile. The offensive line blocked really well. The holes were there for our backs. Our defense did a great job of shutting them down after the first drive, especially our defensive line. Zack Leggett had a great game.” Leggett wound up with 12 tackles on the game.
The Panthers had chances all game to extend the lead after tying the game up in the first quarter. Pine Prairie drove inside the 30 yard line of the Hurricanes three times in the second half and came up empty all three times. “We made an easy game hard,” stated Prince. “We need to be able to put games away when we have the chance. We can’t let teams hang around. Even with that, I was pleased with the effort the kids gave. They played really hard.”
The East Beauregard Trojans pose a different type of challenge for Pine Prairie. Where North Central was mainly a passing team, the Trojans are a foot-to-foot, double wing football team who really wants to control the game on the ground. “They seldom pass the ball,” commented Prince. “The key against a team like that is to control the line of scrimmage. We are going to have to stay low and make tackles. I think we have a speed advantage over them. Offensively, we are going to have to catch the ball and use our speed. We have our work cut out for us.”
A big part of Friday’s contest for the Panthers is how well they react to playing on the road. For Coach Prince and the Pine Prairie football team, getting off to a good start as the visiting team is important. Being 2-0 for this young squad would really go a long way to continuing the confidence from their first victory in 2014.