The Plain Dealing Lions got back in the win column Thursday night, defeating the Lincoln Prep Panthers 42-13 at Lions Stadium in Plain Dealing.
Plain Dealing evened its overall record at 3-3 and improved to 1-2 in District 1-1A. Lincoln Prep dropped to 1-5 and 0-3.
It took awhile for the Lions to put away the Panthers. Plain Dealing’s lone touchdown of the first half came on a Cerdarius Johnson interception return and the Lions trailed 7-6.
Plain Dealing came out strong in the third quarter, scoring a couple of quick touchdowns.
“We made a few adjustments defensively, moved a few kids around, and were able to kind of shut them down a little bit and put a lot of pressure on them, got some short fields,” Plain Dealing head coach James Thurman said.
Thurman said the Lions tried establish a running game in the first half to take some of the pressure off quarterback Ken Gay, but it didn’t work.
“First half offensively we were terrible,” he said. “We were just killing ourselves, completely stagnant the whole first half. The second half we went back to running the offense we have the last few weeks.
“We just happened to have some of our guys back (from injuries) so it was a little more successful than it was the last two weeks.”
Gay, who battled through an injury to his throwing shoulder in last week’s loss to Arcadia, turned in another sold performance. He scored two rushing touchdowns and threw a TD pass to Darrien Perry.
The Lions also got a boost from the return of running back/linebacker Ladavious Scott and two-way lineman Duranczk Newton.
Scott played a key role in the victory at running back.
“He had a fantastic game,” Thurman said. “He made a couple of runs (where) I think everybody on Lincoln Prep’s team missed him twice. He was running like he was possessed. He was very, very hard to bring down.”
What impressed Thurman the most, though, was the way the Lions put the game away.
With a good lead, Plain Dealing went back to the running game and scored two more touchdowns in the final eight minutes.
“We went back to our original game plan out of the I (formation) and just pounded the ball and scored two more touchdowns and ran the clock out. Real physical, physical football there at the end. I was so proud of them.”
Micah Wynne, a 5-foot-6 tailback, was just one of the Lions who impressed Thurman down the stretch. Wynn basically ran over a big Lincoln Prep player on his way to a touchdown.
“It was absolutely awesome,” Thurman said. “Very, very physical end of the game which is something we can hang our hat on.”
In addition to his first-half interception return, Johnson ran for a touchdown in the second half.
Johnson, Wynne and Ladarious Oneal all scored two-point conversions.
Plain Dealing will be at home again next Friday against Ringgold. The Redskins (1-4, 1-1) visit Homer Friday night.
