By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
There was no doubt.
Picking the Shreveport-Bossier Journal Team of the Week for Week 5 of the local high school football season was a no contest, after Parkway’s remarkable 46-35 victory over visiting Byrd last Thursday night.
Beating unbeaten Byrd? One of the two 4-0 teams at Preston Crownover Field was going to win.
Parkway did, against all odds. Not only with a quarterback who wasn’t on the team until game week, when due to an injury in the previous game at Natchitoches Central, the Panthers were desperate. But also without several starters, skill position players on offense and defense who remain suspended indefinitely related to an off-the-field incident.
The SBJ staff and most everybody else was impressed. Byrd had the more impressive resume coming in, with a couple of solid road wins over traditional south Louisiana powers, and a victory at Evangel.
But it was a piecemeal Parkway lineup that dominated up front early, quickly took a 14-0 lead and never gave it up. While playing with quite a few second-teamers, and a brand-new, unproven quarterback, the Panthers looked like there must have been some good position battles in preseason practice.
“We’re deep enough, I guess,” said Parkway coach Coy Brotherton.
It had more to do with who was still in uniform – the big guys up front, especially on the offensive line – than who wasn’t.
“We knew the core of our team was still there, and we could kinda make it work. Any time you lose two quarterbacks – that was our third different quarterback to play this year – we still knew the kids could step up and do it,” said Brotherton. “You just hope they didn’t lose faith. Are they still going to believe in what we’re doing, or lose faith? Evidently they didn’t. We played a good game.”
The Monday morning addition of lacrosse standout and former freshman team quarterback Gavin Ferrington was a surprise that worked out as well as the Panthers could have hoped. What Brotherton and the team expected also panned out.
“Gavin completed two big fourth-down passes to Josh Coleman, had a third-and-long to Gary Burney, and we knew CJ Dudley and Camaro Mayo are the guys we lean on the most, and they made big play after big play,” the coach said.
Dudley was dominant, running 39 times for 210 yards and four touchdowns. Mayo had 169 total yards (91 on eight catches) and a pair of TDs. Ferrington missed only one of 13 passes, throwing for 140 yards and two scores.
Most of all, Parkway’s triumph was rooted in the team holding true to its identity, expressed in the mantra “Dirty Red.”
“Our kids have adopted the mentality of ‘be tough, be physical.’ We work hard,” said Brotherton. “A lot of that is where ‘Dirty Red’ comes from. We’ll do whatever we can do. We’re going to have to get our hands dirty and be a hard-working group to be able to succeed. Our kids have bought into that.
“Losing some skill guys, receivers, DBs, we knew the offensive line was still intact. Those guys we’ve leaned on. They’re tough, they’re big, they’re strong, they’re physical, and they set the tone all week. Hopefully we can keep playing with that edge.”
There’s no time to celebrate. In District 1-5A there’s tough competition nearly every week. This week, on Friday night, it’s a showdown between crosstown rivals, both unblemished through five games. Parkway heads north a few miles to visit Airline.
“Last week was a short week with a Thursday night game against Byrd, and the kids were able to ride the emotion, play hard, and play tough. It’s going to be like that again this week,” said Brotherton. “It’s a rivalry game, and I expect a lot of emotion on the line.”
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com