By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Parkway’s Panthers are warmed up for District 1-5A competition.
Haughton’s Bucs are sky high after an overtime triumph over Byrd made them 1-0 in district, for the first time in six years.
Add in the intensity of a (very friendly) neighborhood rivalry, and tonight’s collision at Preston Crownover Stadium in Bossier City has some sizzle.
Parkway is 2-0 with dominant wins over two Class 4A foes, Carroll (43-13) and Woodlawn (56-6), and will play on its homefield for the third straight week. Veteran Parkway coach Coy Brotherton likes how his team has come out swinging.
“We have a lot of guys back, and we’re pretty experienced in our skill positions and on the defensive line. Having Kaleb Williams back at quarterback after missing him (because of injury) for almost all of last season is a real boost, as good as he is,” said Brotherton.
For the Panthers, now come the eight games that matter most.
“It’s a big district, with nine teams. Regardless of the talent, all the teams are well coached and everybody has some good athletes. It’s very deep, no off weeks. Anybody can beat anybody,” Brotherton said. “We were fortunate enough that our first two games were non-district, but it’s a grind from here on out.”
Parkway’s progress report card has a lot of check marks, but Brotherton sees need for improvement.
“On offense, we need to finish blocks better, finish plays better. We don’t need to rely on the big play – we’ve had some, those are great – but I want to see us put clean drives together, 7-8-9 plays. On defense we’ve got to continue to find the football and make the tackle. We missed a tackle, loafed on pursuit, and gave up a 70-yard touchdown run last week. That should ever happen.”
The Buccaneers always have the Panthers’ attention – because there is no shortage of bonds between the schools, their football teams and their coaching staffs. Haughton head coach Matthew Sewell was Brotherton’s offensive coordinator four years ago, and Bucs’ OC Cody Taylor was also on the Parkway staff.
After an agonizing opening 36-34 loss at home to Homer, Haughton used a walk-off two-point conversion pass to knock off the visiting Yellow Jackets in the Bucs’ district opener last Friday. Ethan Johnson set a Haughton record with 290 receiving yards on 12 catches, while quarterback Taylor Weathersby threw for 309 yards on 16 of 30 aim, not including the game-winning two-pointe to Case Corkern.
“We finished early last Friday night and they were still going at it, so we pulled it up in the office and watched. We were excited for those guys. We pull for them,” Brotherton said. “Me and Matthew are close.”
“We share a (school) district border. We have a lot of kids who know each other; the coaches know each other really well,” said Sewell. “You have to expect we’ll have a pretty good crowd from both schools.”
The Week 3 games involving Shreveport-Bossier teams:
TONIGHT
Haughton (1-1 overall, 1-0 in 1-5A) at Parkway (2-0, 0-0)
FRIDAY
Evangel (1-1, 1-0) at Byrd (0-2, 0-1), Lee Hedges Stadium
Benton (0-2, 0-1) at Huntington (0-2, 0-1), Independence Stadium
Captain Shreve (1-1, 1-0) at Natchitoches Central (1-1, 0-1)
Airline (2-0) at Union Parish (0-2)
Bossier (2-0) at Logansport (0-2)
Cedar Creek (2-0) at Loyola (2-0)
Mansfield (2-0) at Northwood (2-0)
Woodlawn (1-1) at Lakeview (0-2)
Southwood (1-0) at North Caddo (0-2)
Franklin Parish (2-0) at Calvary (1-1)
Lakeside (1-1) at Plain Dealing (0-1)
Magnolia School of Excellence (0-2), open
SATURDAY
Green Oaks (0-2) at Booker T. Washington (2-0) – 5 p.m. kickoff
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com