2023 LUFKIN PANTHER FOOTBALL TOPIC DISCUSSIONS

[LufkinPack]

3 minutes ago, timeout! said:

Good game by Longview. Special teams tried to give that game away and their defense stepped up twice after two turners late in the 4th. Gritty win by Longview.

Yeah, I’ve been watching it since ours is a snooze fest. If we played like this two weeks ago, Forney would’ve won 56-0 

[timeout!]

Outlook for Lufkin is still grim. The team came out flat and uninspired. And the offense looked worse after a week of "fixing" stuff against a very bad team. Better teams will simply bottle up Kedren. Green not creative enough to scheme anything to counter it. Lufkin gets the win to stay alive. And the fact you can't get anyone else going, but Murphy is puzzling. Preston and Taylor are after thoughts. I just watched Longview lean on 2 other Rbs to help them win. Tatum got his, but it wasn't all him.

[LufkinPack]

Just now, timeout! said:

Outlook for Lufkin is still grim. The team came out flat and uninspired. And the offense looked worse after a week of "fixing" stuff against a very bad team. Better teams will simply bottle up Kedren. Green not creative enough to scheme anything to counter it. Lufkin gets the win to stay alive. 

We will not win next week. I’m not sure we can beat Tyler. 

[timeout!]

8 minutes ago, LufkinPack said:

We will not win next week. I’m not sure we can beat Tyler. 

I can't trust this staff, even if we got a win next week. They would still find a way to lose against Tyler after pulling an upset against McNorth. Just tired of watching Green and his Mickey Mouse offense. 

And Quick already look defeated in the post game interview. Seem like he just going through the motions.

[LufkinPack]

3 minutes ago, timeout! said:

I can't trust this staff, even if we got a win next week. They would still find a way to lose against Tyler after pulling an upset against McNorth. Just tired of watching Green and his Mickey Mouse offense. 

I agree 100%

[timeout!]

Has #37 Murphy been playing this year? I don't remember seeing him this year. Kid has some wheels on him.

[PurpleNation]

4 minutes ago, timeout! said:

Has #37 Murphy been playing this year? I don't remember seeing him this year. Kid has some wheels on him.

No he's been on the bench. He should have been playing.

[timeout!]

5 minutes ago, PurpleNation said:

No he's been on the bench. He should have been playing.

Wow..the defense automatically looked that much better. I look for players that flash when watching a game and he immediately jumps out. Haven't seen speed like that from LB position since Mandela Roberts.

Most of the pieces are there for Lufkin. The O-line is not the best, but I don't feel it's the worst we have seen. Think they can be serviceable if giving a little help.That defense has so much potential.

[Packfan49]

Well this is my last comment on this game,but if we make the play-offs! the first game will be pathic.

[PackAttack]

District 7-5A DI scores:

Longview 13  Forney  7

Lancaster 34  Tyler 27

Lufkin 25   North Mesquite  7

McKinney North   61   West Mesquite  19

[PackAttack]

Lufkin survives scare from North Mesquite  By JOSH HAVARD/The Lufkin Daily News

The Lufkin Panthers spent the bye week looking to put together a complete performance in all three phases of the game. As it turns out, a dominant performance in two phases was more than enough.

The Panthers’ defense held North Mesquite to 145 yards and Brayden Murphy delivered the decisive blow with a 56-yard punt return for a touchdown as Lufkin snapped a two-game losing streak over the North Mesquite Stallions with a 25-7 win in District 7-5A DI action at E.H. Hamby Stadium Friday night.

“You’ve got to find a way, and sometimes it doesn’t look as good as other times,” Lufkin head coach Todd Quick said. “I was more pleased with how we came out in the second half and stuck with it when we didn’t do a lot of things well.”

https://lufkindailynews.com/sports/high_school/lufkin-survives-scare-from-north-mesquite/article_0de4cc8e-dd3d-5956-b691-d290c5235855.html

Lufkin got the win despite being held to a season-low 145 yards. It did so with the defense and special teams carrying the way.

North Mesquite’s lone score of the game came on a drive that went 77 yards on 17 plays and took 8:51 off the clock. That was the Stallions’ only sustained drive of the game until late in the fourth quarter, when the game had been decided.

“We tackled a lot better after the second half,” Quick said. “I think it was more of a mental thing instead of anything else. But for the most part, the defense played pretty well.”

Meanwhile, Lufkin’s special teams were one of the major stories of the night. A pair of recoveries on returns helped set up two field goals, and Murphy’s 56-yard touchdown return on a punt was the decisive spark.

“He made plays for us both in the kicking game and on offense,” Quick said. “He finally had one that didn’t get called back on him. I’m really proud of him for the work ethic he shows.”

Lufkin was able to get the win despite Kedren Young being held under 100 yards. He finished with 95 yards on 22 carries.

T.J. Hammond threw for 57 yards on 8-of-16 passing and ran for two scores.

Lufkin was held off the scoreboard until the final two minutes of the second quarter before finally making enough plays to survive an upset bid.

“We didn’t play very good offensively tonight,” Quick said. “They kept fighting and made enough plays at the end. We still need to be better.”

It was an uneventful opening 24 minutes in a quickly moving first half.

With Lufkin’s offense struggling to string together any offense, North Mesquite was able to grind away the clock with time-consuming drives.

After Lufkin’s first drive ended near midfield, the Stallions went to work on the longest drive the Panthers have allowed all season.

North Mesquite took the drive 77 yards on 17 plays, taking 8:51 off the clock. It culminated with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Luke Seder to Kemaur Johnson, making it 7-0 with 10:58 left in the half.

The Panthers finally got a break on special teams when they got a short field after recovering a muffed punt.

That set up Nolan Hansard’s 27-yard field goal that trimmed the margin to 7-3 in the last minute of the first half.

Neither team reached 100 yards of offense in the opening half.

The Panthers’ first drive of the second half ended with a lost fumble before the defense once again stepped up with a stop.

Lufkin’s offense finally got going late in the third quarter when Kedren Young powered his way to a 19-yard run and T.J. Hammond ran it in for a 1-yard touchdown as the Panthers took their first lead of the night at 10-7 with 1:14 left in the third quarter.

Lufkin’s special teams followed with the biggest play of the night when Murphy fielded a punt, broke across the field and broke two late tackles before finishing off a 56-yard return that made it 16-7 with 10:55 remaining.

That lead grew to 12 points with 4:17 left in the game when Hansard booted a 30-yard field goal, making it 19-7.

Lufkin’s special teams continued to be special on the following play when they recovered a North Mesquite muffed kickoff return at the North Mesquite 20.

That allowed the Panthers to ice the game five plays later when Hammond scored on a 1-yard QB sneak that made it 25-7.

Lufkin (4-2, 1-2) returns to action Friday when it hosts McKinney North at 7:30 p.m.

[PurpleNation]

9 hours ago, timeout! said:

Wow..the defense automatically looked that much better. I look for players that flash when watching a game and he immediately jumps out. Haven't seen speed like that from LB position since Mandela Roberts.

Most of the pieces are there for Lufkin. The O-line is not the best, but I don't feel it's the worst we have seen. Think they can be serviceable if giving a little help.That defense has so much potential.

My son told me Coach Soderquist at halftime pulled out the white board and started drawing stuff up on how to play some of what they were doing. He went on to say Soderquist knows what's he's doing. We have a good DC. I think Murphy not playing falls on the position coach not the DC. 

[PackAttack]

Earlier in the week I had mentioned that although North Mesquite was 1-4, they had not been blown out this year by anyone.  For a team with only 35 kids playing they do the best they can, they have some decent coaching.  Only their mistakes late allowed Lufkin to make this game look better than it was to watch in person.

I don't know any longer. A win is a win I guess but how can anyone can be proud of an offensive performance like that. Although they started a little slow, we are so lucky to have the Pack defense play they way they do or we could’ve gotten beat.  The defense played well, NM made just enough mistakes and Green was able to pull just enough plays out of his ass late to win this game.   

Good to see Zion back in the lineup, his presence makes a big difference. The whole D got after it last night.  Thought they allowed the NM QB to run too often early, they straightened most of that out in the 2nd half. NM O did almost nothing in 2nd half. 

The positive is Lufkin is 4-2 and 1-2 in district.  I've already said that this stretch of three games will define whether the team makes the playoffs or not.  The supposed easy game is done, now to face McKinney North and Tyler.   Just saying the Lufkin offense could not have looked more disconnected most of the night,  thankfully Brayden Murphey made some plays, a TD punt return and 2 or 3 other key 1st down catches, were the difference makers,  Kedren Young fought for every yard he got again, he finally had some decent runs late in the game. SMH, Green thinks he can always run Young up the middle , up the middle, up the middle and teams have done a good job of clogging that up most all year.  We don't have the type OL to get that done consistently.  I think Young can have a lot of success if they would run him outside more. It's so hard to watch sometimes and it remains the same game after game, nothing changes.  Consistency in the passing is all over the place, no matter the QB.  Taylor and Preston at WR are wasting away, didn't see WR Hooper tonight.  The O is an inconsistent mess right now, there is no other way to say it. You know, even as short handed as NM were , they actually ran a bunch of creative sets to try and get their guys open.  Anyway 25-7 is 25-7, take the ugly win and go home. 

Do any of you guys see anything miraculous changes coming with this offense the next 4 games?  Thankfully we have a DC who knows how to make the changes needed and inspire the kids to be successful. Thank goodness for that, they have stayed steady most all year.

I give credit to NM, they hung in there, they have some athletes. Seder is a very decent QB. In the end NM  playing their kids both ways and too many mistakes helped the Lufkin O over come themselves.  NM personal foul penalties were just as bad as ours.  That's another thing, our kids need to stop the undisciplined personal foul crap. it's as embarrassing and just stupid to do in a game. 

That's about all I have, got back at 12:45 AM, it was a long game for a 7 PM start.  On another note, the officiating was not all that great, an especially slow working group, and a terrible clock operator who didn't start the clock at all on a few plays run by NM.  Hanby Stadium is a good place to watch a game, everything real close to the field, good game atmosphere. 

I have no breakout thoughts on the rest of the season, except if we don't get the offense rolling, then it's going to be a struggle the next 4 weeks.

 

[PackAttack]

7-5A DI STANDINGS:

School Name	*W-L	*Pct.	*PF	*PA	W-L	Pct.	PF	PA
Longview	3-0	1.000	107	42	5-1	0.833	204	79
McKinney North	3-0	1.000	120	66	5-1	0.833	249	106
Forney	2-1	0.667	118	34	5-1	0.833	297	44
Tyler	1-2	0.333	74	71	4-2	0.667	167	133
Lufkin	1-2	0.333	46	91	4-2	0.667	148	143
Lancaster	1-2	0.333	90	107	2-4	0.333	159	191
West Mesquite	1-2	0.333	46	146	3-3	0.500	115	195
North Mesquite	0-3	0.000	29	73	1-5	0.167	80	161

[timeout!]

We are starting to get a clearer picture. Longview will prob win district. McNorth and Forney will take the next two spots in no particular order. That leaves Lufkin, Tyler and Lancaster fighting for the 4th and final spot. It's possible that Lufkin could upset McKnorth, but we don't look like a team capable of that right now. The offense has been in the dumpster since the Nac game. They rode Kedren as long as possible. The better teams are gonna force Lufkin to do something different. We could be looking at a scenario were Lufkin vs Lancaster is a winner take all game. That's assuming we take care of business against Tyler. Even that game is in doubt this year.

[PackAttack]

27 minutes ago, timeout! said:

We are starting to get a clearer picture. Longview will prob will district. McNorth and Forney will take the next two spots in no particular order. That leaves Lufkin, Tyler and Lancaster fighting for the 4th and final spot. It's possible that Lufkin could upset McKnorth, but we don't look like a team capable of that right now. The offense has been in the dumpster since the Nac game. They road Kedren as long as possible. The better teams are gonna force Lufkin to do something different. We could be looking at a scenario were Lufkin vs Lancaster is a winner take all game. That's assuming we take care of business against Tyler. Even that game is in doubt this year.

The skilled talent is there on O, they are not lacking. I could say play selection, but that is not entirely it either, many times it's just execution. You look at it and just can't figure why is looks so disconnected. We are having trouble getting the ball consistency to skill players.  QB Johnson had a big run early, the problem with him is he just doesn't stick with blocking and starts to adlib at the first sign of pressure and it gets him in trouble. T J ran the ball a couple times for decent yards and a couple of TD runs, all good.  They actually scored one TD with TJ from under Center, amazing. However, the passing game downfield has been silenced for the most part since Nacogdoches. The expected big play ability of Preston and Taylor is seldom seen, why?

It's a mixed bag. It adds up to all this offensive inconsistency. We haven't ran the ball well in 4 games now.  This is game 7 coming up, we have regressed more than progressed on the O side of things. That does not bode well for playoff asperations. The better question would be, will there be changes or just continue the same approach?

[LufkinPack]

This team is staring 5-5 in the face if they don’t clean things up offensively (which never happens with green). McNorth, Tyler and Lancaster are all better than Lufkin right now. Period. Idc how good the defense is. They are put in bad situations and on the field too much for it to matter. 

[timeout!]

41 minutes ago, PackAttack said:

The skilled talent is there on O, they are not lacking. I could say play selection, but that is not entirely it either, many times it's just execution. You look at it and just can't figure why is looks so disconnected. We are having trouble getting the ball consistency to skill players.  QB Johnson had a big run early, the problem with him is he just doesn't stick with blocking and starts to adlib at the first sign of pressure and it gets him in trouble. T J ran the ball a couple times for decent yards and a couple of TD runs, all good.  They actually scored one TD with TJ from under Center, amazing. However, the passing game downfield has been silenced for the most part since Nacogdoches. The expected big play ability of Preston and Taylor is seldom seen, why?

It's a mixed bag. It adds up to all this offensive inconsistency. We haven't ran the ball well in 4 games now.  This is game 7 coming up, we have regressed more than progressed on the O side of things. That does not bode well for playoff asperations. The better question would be, will there be changes or just continue the same approach?

Lufkin doesn't have an identity on offense. And I'm not just talking about this year. Some teams have a system and culture the kids buy into. When things get hard, they can usually fall back on it. You think about teams like Katy and even Longview when it comes to running the ball. Longview was struggling to move the ball last night. When they needed a play they went to the run game or used it to set up something positive. Then just relied on a stout defense to bring it home. Green just throws darts at the board and hopes something sticks. It's not a cohesive unit at the moment. You have a stud RB, but nothing flows or fits around him like it should. Correct me if I'm wrong. But I think Hammonds has as many rushing TD's as Preston has receiving. 

[LufkinPack]

We would hit a lot more big passing plays if we had an accurate QB though. He over throws people a lot 

[timeout!]

14 minutes ago, LufkinPack said:

We would hit a lot more big passing plays if we had an accurate QB though. He over throws people a lot 

He has hit guys in the paste. I think it's just the flow of the offense. There is no rhythm to anything. It's run, run, and then try a long pass when on obvious passing downs. The whole system is broken and just doesn't work well. Kevo had an awesome second half of the season last year. Thought he would be in for a bigger year. Preston has so much talent, but only has few big plays this year. Green hasn't been very creative in getting them the ball. 

[Pack13]

I think offense comes down to Oline play. When teams realized they didn’t have to load the box to stop the run they backed off. We ran a sweep left last night and the left tackle was blown 3 yards off the ball leading to a TFL. How many teams have run 3 man lines against us and we can move them. The issue is obvious. The line can’t play. If I lose the line of scrimmage you lose the game. 

[Webleedpurple]

We should give the Phillips kid a shot at Qb.

[PackAttack]

1 hour ago, LufkinPack said:

This team is staring 5-5 in the face if they don’t clean things up offensively (which never happens with green). McNorth, Tyler and Lancaster are all better than Lufkin right now. Period. Idc how good the defense is. They are put in bad situations and on the field too much for it to matter. 

After 145 yards of offensive against one of the worst teams in this district. You must ask the right question, is there really a switch to flip to turn this around?  We haven't played good offense in 4 games now and we are 2-2 in that time.   We have 3 very worthy opponents in front of us we need to beat. The roulette wheel is spinning.

[Pack13]

5 minutes ago, Webleedpurple said:

We should give the Phillips kid a shot at Qb.

I’d be surprised if we see Phillips again this season

[PackAttack]

On 10/7/2023 at 12:09 PM, Webleedpurple said:

We should give the Phillips kid a shot at Qb.

He is suspended and off the team currently. Not sure how long or why. Not football related.