Lanett celebrates homecoming, falls to Handley
Published 1:04 am Saturday, September 28, 2024
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
LANETT — It’s usually a tough battle for 2A Lanett against 4A Handley, and that story played out once again at Morgan-Washburn Stadium on Friday. The visitors took a 21-o halftime lead before the Panthers salvaged some respect by scoring a couple of times before falling by a score of 31-12.
With the loss, the Panthers fall to 3-2 on the year. Handley improved to 4-2.
The Morgan-Washburn playing surface was in surprisingly good condition despite Thursday’s soaking by Hurricane Helene.
The visiting Tigers were one of the bigger, more physical teams Lanett will play this year. They used a strong running game to take an early 14-0 lead before the game turned into a defensive stalemate. It looked like the Panthers would make it 14-6 midway through the second quarter when quarterback Fred Broughton fired a perfect pass far downfield to a wide open Terrell Staples. The ball hit him right in the hands and he had beaten his man just inside the 10 for what looked to be an easy touchdown. As luck would have it, the ball skipped off his hands incomplete. On the next play, Handley took over at midfield when a fourth down pass fell incomplete.
The game took a turn for the worse for the Panthers when the visiting Tigers put up one more score with less than two minutes to go in the half. Like Lanett had done on their previous possession they went for a home run ball, and on the Lanett sideline at least, theirs looked incomplete, too. The receiver had the ball in his hands but it hit the ground. He fell on top of it in the end zone, and the official apparently ruled that he had possession, fumbled it and recovered it in the end zone for a score.
Lanett players and coaches went absolutely berserk at the call.
“That’s ridiculous!” head coach R.J. McDonald screamed at the lead official out on the field.
Hard feelings both ways played a role in the second half. Both teams were hit with personal foul and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. At one point, the officials gathered the two teams together and had a long talk with them, ending with the lead official saying, “Now let’s just play football!”
To the credit of both teams, that’s what they did.
After Handley had taken a 28-0 lead with 6:18 left in the third quarter, Lanett got on the scoreboard following an 80-yard drive. Quarterback Broughton brilliantly led the team down the field, making some key runs and finding Alajawon Whitfield and Staples on some pass plays. Broughton scored on a seven-yard run up the middle with 31.4 seconds left in the third quarter to make it 28-6. The point-after kick was wide right leaving the score unchanged.
Handley then marched to a field goal to make it 31-6 before Lanett got a final score. The Panthers drove it 62 yards to get that score with 2:32 left in the game. Fullback Braylon Chambers scored on a 19-yard run off the right side of the line. A try for two points failed when a pass fell incomplete.
The Panthers will have another tough game next week when they travel to Reeltown to take on the defending 2A Region 4 champion Rebels. Reeltown made it all the way to the state championship game last year before falling in a high-scoring game to perennial state champ Fyffe.
With wins over Loachapoka and LaFayette, the Panthers are currently 2-0 in the Region. A win over Reeltown next week would put them in the driver’s seat to being this year’s Region champ. Even with a loss, they still have a good shot at the playoffs. The final three games of the regular season will be Area games at Coosa Central and Horseshoe Bend and at home against Ranburne.
