The road doesn’t get any easier for Anthony King and the West Lowndes High School football team.
Already saddled with back-to-back shutouts in region play, King and the Panthers go on the road at 7 tonight to face Pelahatchie in a Class 1A, Region game.
West Lowndes enters the game 2-4 and 1-2 in the region, while Pelahatchie is 5-2 and 3-1. The matchup is critical for West Lowndes because Noxapater (4-0), Nanih Waiya and East Oktibbeha (3-0) are undefeated in region play. Noxapater defeated West Lowndes 49-0 last week, while East Oktibbeha earned a 6-0 win in a rivalry game the previous week.
The losses give King’s team even less room for error as it tries to finish in the top four in the region to earn a playoff spot.
“It definitely has been challenging, but me and the rest of the coaches keep pushing and keep trying to keep the guys encouraged,” King said. “If we win out we can still make it as the three seed.”
To accomplish that goal, King said the Panthers need to find a way to get senior running back Antonio Wilson. King said defense are stacking the line of scrimmage and winning the battle at the point of attack, which makes it tough for Wilson to show off his game-breaking abilities.
King said the key is finding other players who can make plays to take the pressure off Wilson and sophomore quarterback Justin Stephenson.
King hopes the losses will pay dividends in at least one respect. He said the fact that the Panthers have gotten “pushed around” highlights the need for the players to get into the weight room. He said he will take those lessons and formulate a plan he can implement to better physically prepare his players to compete.
“We need to get stronger,” King said. “We’re not as strong as the top teams (Noxapater, Nanih Waiya) in our district.”
King said the Panthers do have a weight room and that he will take time from the team’s practice schedule to have the players work on building strength. With limited time and limited manpower on staff (King leads a staff of three coaches), he said everyone has work to do to help the Panthers climb to the top of the district.
“I see (the difference in strength) especially in the fourth quarter,” King said. “You play faster and a lot more confident when you’re stronger and not getting pushed around. We have to keep at it and keep tying to make it work.”
King credited Noxapater for controlling the game last week, but he thought his players might have suffered a letdown after losing a close game to rival East Oktibbeha. He said his offensive line needs to do a better job opening lanes for Wilson, and the offense needs to be cleaner in its execution, especially in the red zone.
The issues add up to a formidable challenge, but King is confident the Panthers can re-focus and get back on track.
“We still have a shot,” King said. “We dug ourselves a deep hole and we can’t afford to lose two more games. The later half of the (region) lineup is a little soft, and we’re going through the tough part now, but we need to find a way to get a win. We need to get two wins out of the next three games. We just need to score points. That’s our main problem.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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