After punching a last-minute ticket to the 2A playoffs, the Panthers faced No. 1 Cottonwood in the Bear’s Den.

It was a steady momentum for both teams despite a lopsided score, 30-10, in the first half. Lanett started the game by going three and out. But the defense immediately came back by recovering a Bear fumble.

Unfortunately, the offense wasn’t able to do much with the turnover. Cottonwood opened the scoring on the next possession aided by a long pass to a receiver downfield. All it took was a short run to put six points on the board with 7:13 to go in the first.

The Bears would strike again, after a poorly timed penalty gave the home team an important first down. A winding quarterback run and two point conversion stretched the score to 14-0.

The Panther’s offense was able to get something going in the final minutes of the first, thanks to powerful runs by Keondae Huguley. His fellow senior, Yonatan Morales Cobon, finished the job with a field goal and closed the gap to 14-3 in the top of the second.

The good vibes were harshed when a Bears player took the ball to the goal line. It only took a short run to put them ahead by more than two scores.

Lanett’s defense looked like they would stop the Bears’ long game. But a beautiful fingertip catch by a Cottonwood receiver in the end zone but a nail in the first half. Or so they thought.

Lanett marched down the field with short but effective passes by quarterback Frederick Broughton, aided by penalties on Cottonwood. With 10 seconds left, Huguley ran around the outside for the first Panther touchdown of the night. Morales tacked on another to make it 30-10 before the half.

Cottonwood opened the second half with a 30-yard touchdown run in the first couple of minutes.

After Lanett fourth down attempt ended in a sack in their own territory, the Bears capitalized putting the score out of reach at 46-10 with five minutes left in the third.

To add insult to injury the Bears recovered a muffed punt on the next play. An unforced fumble by the Bears gave Lanett the ball back at the halfway point.

Broughton and Huguley take it down the field. Huguley notches his second touchdown with a reception cutting it to 46-16.

After a lot of stoppage time and handful of penalties. Cottonwood found them self in the red zone. They got the points back 54-16 with nine minutes to go.

Much of the same for the rest of the game. It wasn’t the Panthers hoped for but it was the one they got.

“We didn’t really execute at a high level, you know, for what we have to do for playoffs and at the end of the day,” Panther’s head coach RJ McDonald said.

McDonald added that his guys, “played their guts out.”

In the post-game huddle his speech was simple, he’s proud of his player and they need to work hard in the offseason. All the coaches were hugging their seniors who played their last game on Friday.

“That’s a special group,” McDonald said. “I’m just very proud of those guys, and I’m always there for them. I hope they know that I’m a players’ coach…I just want them to know that I love them.”