#HSFT22 Stop #3 – West Lowndes Panthers

The West Lowndes Panthers fell just one game short of state last season. That loss has been on their minds ever since.

“We talk about state like every day, especially like after the loss,” sophomore Kam Evans said. “We were like, man, I just wanted to go state.”

The thought of reaching state is what pushes the Panthers through those scorching hot summer practices.

“That’s the first thing that hit my mind,” senior Elijah Johnson said. “We lost in the south state championship. I’m trying to get that gold bar this year.”

Getting so close to that final game made head coach Anthony King’s players want it even more. But that’s always been the goal.

“Every year that’s the goal to try and get to the state championship play for that change the game.,” King said. “We’ve never played into before.”

The key to winning that extra game is found on the line of scrimmage. King is going to lean heavy on his offensive line.

“We’re gonna lean on the offensive line a lot more than we did last year,” King said. “I think we’re going to have lots of success coming behind that big offensive line.”

Behind that offensive line, you’ll find senior running back Jaquavious Tate. He stands at just 5-foot-4 but his size is what makes him so sneaky. King has high expectations for Tate, but going into his fourth year, Tate is used to it.

“It’s really just normal, I’ve gotten used to it,” Tate said. “I’ve been playing with these boys for three years now so I’ve really gotten used to it.”

But the Panthers won’t just focus on the run game. King wants to keep his offense balanced.

“We lost a lot of offensive productive last year,” King said. “We lost three or four guys that did most of the scoring, so we’ve got to develop some new guys, let them do some scoring.”

The motive for the season is clear. West Lowndes doesn’t want to feel the way they did after that loss again.

“It kind of hurt after that loss, we can get back there again,” Johnson said.