LCHS Football season comes to a close

By Jason Fite/Sports writer

Pete Noblin, Hulon Dunn/Photos

Barry Churchwell/Stats

The Lewis County Panthers hosted the Decatur County-Riverside Panthers in the quarterfinal round of the 2022 TSSAA 2A Football Playoffs on Friday night, November 18.

The Riverside Panthers took the opening kickoff and put together a strong opening drive that was capped off by a 32-yard touchdown run and point after kick to give the visitors an early 7-0 lead.

Lewis County would strike back on their first possession, methodically moving the ball down the field before Brycen McDonald found Dyer Barnes on a 13-yard strike, but the point after kick failed and Riverside held a 7-6 lead.

Riverside would put together another scoring drive that took four minutes off the clock and found the endzone on a 3-yard run. They picked up the PAT to make it a 14-6 game with just under a minute remaining in the first quarter.

Lewis County would strike fast after the kickoff, as McDonald would hit a streaking Dyer Barnes, who broke a tackle near midfield and sprinted to the end zone on a 74-yard touchdown pass. The conversion run by McDonald was stopped short and the Panthers trailed 14-12 at the end of the opening quarter.

The Riverside Panthers would pound out another scoring drive in the second quarter that ended with a 1-yard dive for six, but the PAT kick sailed off target and Riverside held a 20-12 lead.

Late in the first half, the Panthers would tie the game when McDonald found Barnes again, and Barnes made an acrobatic catch in traffic in the endzone. Lincoln Brewer would power in the conversion run to make it a 20-20 game at the half.

Lewis County would take their first lead of the night in the third quarter when McDonald and Barnes hooked up for their fourth touchdown of the game, this time on a 43-yard touchdown pass. After the missed PAT the Panthers held a 26-20 lead.

Riverside would answer late in the period on a 5-yard run and miss the point after as well to tie the game at 26 as play moved into the fourth quarter.

The teams alternated possessions in the fourth quarter before Riverside was able to push the ball deep into Panther territory and punch it in from the 1-yard line and connect on the PAT to take a 33-26 lead with just over two minutes to play.

Lewis County would make one last desperation attempt to score, but the fourth-and-long pass fell to the turf of Bobby W. Sharp Stadium and the Panthers run in the playoffs came to an end.

Brycen McDonald was 15 for 25 for 271 yards and 4 touchdowns on the night. Dyer Barnes had 9 receptions for 214 yards and 4 touchdowns, Bentley Kelsey had 4 catches for 34 yards, and Chaz Sparkman 2 for 23 yards. Lincoln Brewer had 15 carries for 49 yards in the game.

Nathaniel Caamal had 15 tackles and a fumble recovery for the Panther defense, Lane Barnes 15 tackles, Lincoln Brewer 13 tackles, Eli Carroll 11 tackles, Chaz Sparkman 8 tackles, Dyer Barnes and Dominic Seiber 6 tackles each, Bentley Kelsey, Brennan Davis, and Jaylen Murphy 4 tackles each, Micah Godfrey and Riley Ray 3 tackles each, and Malachi Bruce and Timothy Brown 2 tackles each.

The Panther's season ended in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs, Lewis County's deepest playoff run since reaching the semifinal round in 2013, and finished with an 11-2 record for the 2022 season.