By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
LUMBERTON – The Lumberton Panthers shook off a shaky start in their 2018 football season opener and rolled to a surprisingly-easy 44-7 triumph over North Forrest Friday night at Lumberton Stadium.
Lumberton (1-0) turned to its offensive line to right the ship after surrendering a touchdown on the game’s opening kickoff and losing a fumble at their own 17-yard line on the first offensive possession of the game.
“I was really proud of those guys,” said Lumberton coach Zack Jones. “We were not as dominant on the offensive line as we needed to be last season, and those guys have worked extremely hard. I thought we handled the game on the line of scrimmage.”
Things looked good for the Eagles at the start, as sophomore Ryhen Brisco took the opening kickoff up the middle of the field for a 98-yard touchdown. Leon Jones’ PAT kick made it 7-0 just 15 seconds into the game.
On Lumberton’s second play of the game, a high snap over the head of quarterback Jared Tribbet pushed the Panthers back to the 20-yard-line, and on the next play, Tribbet lost the handle again and this time North Forrest recovered the fumble at the Panther 17.
The Lumberton held on fourth-and-2 at the 9-yard line, and that’s when the Robert Henry Show took center stage.
On the second play of the drive, Henry followed crushing blocks around left end for a 34-yard pick-up.
Henry followed that with a 13-yard gain, then junior Kavoris Howard rumbled 35 yards up the middle to the Eagle 5, and Henry finished the drive from there for the first of his three touchdowns.
“The line blocked great,” said Henry a 5-foot-10, 180-pound sophomore. “I made plays, everybody made plays; it was a great night. We didn’t worry about (the rocky start). We just had to get our heads in the game and do what we do.”
Henry finished the night with 162 yards on 18 carries, leading a dominant ground attack that racked up 375 rushing yards.
Tribbet, the senior leader for Lumberton, shook off his early woes to guide the Panthers to a mistake-free remainder of the game, completing two of his three pass attempts for 44 yards.
But it was the blocking that opened everyone’s eyes, including those of the visiting Eagles.
“We just have to put this behind us,” said North Forrest coach Anthony Dillon. “That’s a very good team. They were physical up front and they just wore us down.”
Senior Davion Edwards added 81 yards on nine rushes and scored twice, and Howard ran for 54 yards on five carries, and he also scored a touchdown.
“We just came out to dominate,” said Panther senior tackle Antwuan Lampton. “We block and make holes; they’re going to make big plays. It makes us feel good when they make big runs. If we block like we should, we’ll win ball games.”
Lumberton took the lead for good after recovering the first of three lost fumbles that crippled the Eagles’ chances in the first half. Edwards capped a five-play, 51-yard drive with an 8-yard run.
Another fumble on North Forrest’s next possession gave the Panthers a short field, with Henry getting the score on a 39-yard cross-field dash.
Tribbet added a 2-yard scoring run and Edwards scored on a 3-yard run to cap an 11-play, 75-yard march. That came after North Forrest’s third lost fumble of the first half snuffed out its best drive of the night at the Panther 25.
Lumberton added two more scores in the third quarter, on a 12-yard run by Henry, then Howard got in from 10 yards out after the Eagles lost their fourth fumble of the game on the kickoff.
It doesn’t get any easier for North Forrest, as the Eagles host Magee next week. Lumberton travels to face Bay High next week.
“We need to work on our kickoff coverage game,” said Jones. “And as good as we were on the offensive line tonight, we need to be better up front.”
GAME SUMMARY
Friday at Lumberton
Lumberton 44, North Forrest 7
North Forrest 7 0 0 0 – 7
Lumberton 18 14 12 0 – 44
First Quarter
NF – Ryhen Brisco 98 kickoff return (Leon Jones kick), 11:45.
L – Robert Henry 5 run (Run failed), 6:29 (6 plays, 91, yards, 2:25 possession).
L – Davion Edwards 8 run (Run failed), 2:46 (5/51/1:19).
L – Henry 39 run (Run failed), 1:34 (2/31/0:44).
Second Quarter
L – Jared Tribbet 2 run (Tribbet pass to Rodney Parker), 10:22 (4/30/1:17).
L – Edwards 3 run (Pass failed), 2:07 (11/75/5:00).
Third Quarter
L – Henry 12 run (Run failed), 10:05 (5/66/1:55).
L – Kavoris Howard 10 run (Run failed) 8:03 (3/24/1:43).
TEAM STATISTICS
NF L
First downs 6 19
Total yards 137 419
Rushes-yards 19-92 54-375
Passing yards 45 44
Comp-Att-Int 5-17-0 2-3-0
Fumbles-lost 6-4 2-1
Penalties-yards 8-55 4-33
Punts-total (avg.) 3-98 (32.7) 0-0
3rd down conv. 2-9 4-8
4th down conv. 1-4 3-4
Time of possession 20:11 27:49
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
North Forrest – Leon Jones 8-49, Ryhen Brisco 4-15, Tyrell Pollard 1-14, Eric Robinson 6-11, Tra’Jen Anderson 1-3; Lumberton – Robert Henry 13-162, Davion Edwards 9-81, Kavoris Howard 5-54, Shavante Toney 8-344, Antuan Pittman 3-26, Trevon Jessie 4-8, Rodney Parker 2-2, Jared Tribbet 5-(-2).
Passing
North Forrest – Leon Jones 3-11-0-26, Tyrell Pollard 2-6-0-19; Lumberton – Jared Tribbet 2-3-0-44.
Receiving
North Forrest – Ryhen Brisco 2-14, Eric Robinson 1-14, Jalen Grant 2-11, Darius Reed 1-(-2); Lumberton – C.K. Bowens 1-32, Claudio Williams 1-12.
Well done Stan…like I was at the game!