Panthers open district play with confidence

If patience is a virtue, the Pine Prairie Panthers are one virtuous team. The Panther defense held solid throughout the game against Sacred Heart this past Friday and waited patiently for the offense to break open. Finally, the offense was able to crack the Trojan defense and score the final 12 points to take the historic victory back to Pine Prairie. With the win, the Panthers have now broken the record for most wins in a season. Pine Prairie now rides a wave of emotion into Church Point to take on the undefeated Bears in the district opener for both teams. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
“This was the biggest win in Pine Prairie football history,” an excited Pine Prairie Head Coach Yves Prince exclaimed. “We really needed this win, especially for the power points. I told the players after the game that I was proud of the way that they did not quit. This was the first time that we have had to come back to win a game. They really kept punching away and it paid off in the end. This win will give us the confidence to know that we can come from behind to win a game.”
Offensively, the Panthers could only muster 121 yards of total offense. However, it was 62 of those yards that counted the most. A 54-yard touchdown run by Douglas Fontenot early in the fourth quarter and an eight-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Doucet to Javon Ardoin sealed the victory for Pine Prairie. Fontenot led the Panthers on offense with 88 yards rushing and 21 yards passing. Ardoin led all receivers, catching three passes for 27 yards.
“We stayed very patient on offense,” said Prince. “Our offense did not move the ball like I would have wished. But, we kept working hard. The touchdown run by Douglas was a 25 power. The linemen did a tremendous job on the play sustaining their blocks. Once Douglas was in the open field, it is hard to catch him.”
The Panther defense definitely held a bend but don’t break mentality throughout the game. The Trojans managed to accumulate 213 yards of total offense, but only managed one touchdown. The biggest play for the defense came in the overtime period when the Panthers stopped the Trojans one-half yard short of the end zone on fourth down. This allowed the offense to take over knowing all it needed was to score to win.
“They had a good game plan early in the ball game,” stated Prince. “Coach Adkins does a good job on their offensive scheme. They were in an end over formation and ran the buck sweep to that side. That hurt in the first half. We made an adjustment by bringing our weak side line backer to the end over side and it helped a lot in the second half. I thought our defense played well enough to keep us in the game.”
The Panthers are going to need all of the momentum it can muster from its last win going into the game against the Bears. Church Point has not lost all year and has won by an average of 24 points a game. The Bears are very familiar with success as they have been deep in the playoffs the last few years, including the quarterfinals in 2013.
“Church Point is very good,” commented Prince. “They have a big full back that they rely on a lot. They also run the wing T plays really well. Their counter game works well for them. We are going to have to play very sound on defense. I hope we can be in the ball game late, so that we have a chance to gain a big district win.”