Belief.
Anthony King feels self-confidence is the primary obstacle the West Lowndes High School football team has to hurdle to realize its potential. King believes the Panthers have all of the other necessary elements — speed, weapons in the running and passing games, and playmakers on defense — to make noise in the postseason.
While a 20-6 loss to Smithville last week slowed some of West Lowndes’ momentum, the Panthers still will have an opportunity to control their destiny in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 1A, Region 1 playoff race. The first step will come at 7 tonight when West Lowndes (4-4, 3-1 region) plays host to Vardaman (3-5, 2-3). A victory would help keep the Panthers on track for a first- or second-place finish in the region and a chance at a home playoff game. West Lowndes closes the regular season with region games remaining against Hamilton, Coffeeville, and Thrasher. A sweep of all four would greatly enhance the team’s chances because Coffeeville closes the regular season with region games against Coldwater, West Lowndes, Falkner, and Smithville.
King knows the scenarios and feels his team is getting healthy at the right time following losses to Heritage Academy and Smithville.
“We pretty much need to win out to get that second seed,” King said. “It will be good for us to get into a groove before we get into the playoffs.”
West Lowndes put itself in position to earn its first playoff berth since 2012 with a four-game winning streak earlier this season. The streak was the program’s longest since 2010. A sweep of the team’s remaining regular-season games would help the Panthers win five games in a row for the first time since 2001.
King isn’t thinking that far ahead, but he knows the return of sophomore running back/linebacker Jerry Anderson and senior running back Syboris Pippins should provide a huge boost. Last week, he said the Panthers weren’t at 100 percent and had a difficult time taking care of the football on a wet field and in the rain. King said Anderson has been playing only on defense in an attempt to help him get back to full strength.
“It is good to be back at home, and the weather is supposed to be good, so we are looking forward to it,” King said. “Vardaman is a solid team, but I think we have an advantage against them with our speed. We just have to take advantage of it.”
King said the Panthers will need to block better to realize their hopes. He said the team didn’t respond last week after the game started nearly two hours late due to lightning. Smithville scored on its first two possessions and held on for a key region win. Despite the weather, King said his players gained confidence from the fact that they competed against one of the top teams in the region and the classification.
“Smithville has tradition, and once our guys saw they could play with Smithville — even beat Smithville — they started playing a whole lot,” King said. “Our kids feel like we can beat Smithville the second time around.”
King said West Lowndes will rotate sophomore Quinshawn Lucious and junior Lemerrius Fair at quarterback to give the offense different dimensions. He said he likes the way Fair, a 6-foot, 210-pound fireplug, throws the football and runs with the ball. He also likes Lucious’ athleticism and feels he will be an asset if the team can get him out in space to make plays. With a healthy Pippins and Anderson providing even more options, King believes the Panthers can go far. He said he and his assistant coaches have been trying to convince the players of that and to encourage them to work hard every day in practice to prepare for the long haul.
“I really feel that we have one of the best teams in 1A,” King said. “The good thing about it is we are starting to get healthy. We are still changing guys around because of so many injuries. Once we get our chemistry down, I think we will be a bad matchup for any team in 1A.”
For a program that struggled to advance to the playoffs in Region 3, King hopes this year’s group is mentally ready to take on the challenge of earning a home playoff game. He said that as members of the boys and girls basketball teams ran around the baseball and football fields as part of their preseason conditioning. Some of the members of the boys basketball team could have opted to go out for the football team, but King was more concerned about the players who are on the team losing focus and thinking ahead to basketball season.
A win tonight likely would go a long way to improving the Panthers’ focus on football.
“The seniors know it is pretty much right there,” King said. “Every team we played this year we were right there to get it. Once we get our chemistry — we have had about three or four quarterbacks. Now we think Fair is the one who can help us find our groove. We have good speed, so we can run the ball, but we want to be able to loosen the defense up and throw the deep ball like we have in the past. We think we have got that with Fair and Lucious.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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