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Beating an unbeaten
By Brent Wilburn
The Paris News
Published October 29, 2009
This past season’s contest against the Van Alstyne Panthers hasn’t strayed far from North Lamar head coach Tommy Felty’s mind.
He remembers the back-and-forth scoring. He remembers the mistakes his team made in the game. And, most of all, he remembers the failed two-point conversion rushing attempt that would have tied the game with 38 seconds remaining. Instead, it was the Panthers’ final play of the game and they suffered a 28-26 setback.
This season, Felty is obviously hoping for a different outcome against the District 10-3A foe. North Lamar will get an opportunity for revenge at 7:30 p.m. Friday when it hosts Van Alstyne (8-0, 3-0) at R.L. Maddox Stadium.
“We’ve got to execute and not give them anything easy,” Felty said. “We made mistakes last year. Last year they got an onside kick and went off and scored. Then, it was a track meet for the rest of the night. We’d score, then they’d score.
“We missed a two-point conversion to tie it late in the game. We just need to take the gifts away, control the ball and keep their receivers in front of us.”
As North Lamar (2-6, 2-1) enters this season’s bout, the team knows it’s capable of snatching victory in a close game. For an example of that, look no farther than this past Friday’s game against Bonham.
Bonham tied the game at 14-all with 6 minutes remaining, but North Lamar responded with a drive that culminated with a 48-yard touchdown strike from Ryan White to David Bozarth with about 3 minutes remaining.
From there, the North Lamar defense did its part by preserving the victory.
That was a confidence builder for a team that wanted to show it has what it takes to win a tight ballgame.
“There were two positives,” Felty said of the game. “One, we won and that’s something we had to do. Two, when we were put into a situation with 2 minutes to go to see how we handled it. It was do or die. We didn’t want to go into overtime and get into a situation like that or have to punt.
“It was crunch time and we stepped up and executed and scored. That’s what we needed to see and something we hadn’t done a lot this year so that was truly a positive thing. The pressure was on and we handled it, executed and won the game.”
Spreading the wealth
The fact that Van Alstyne won’t have Jake Willingham, a senior last season who accounted for 315 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns in last season’s game, should also aid North Lamar.
But Van Alstyne has looked dangerous through its first eight games and hasn’t lost a game since losing Willingham to graduation.
The threat at the quarterback position this season is Chris Burge, who has passed for 1,833 yards and 18 touchdowns this season while throwing seven interceptions in Van Alstyne’s spread offense. He is also the team’s third-leading rusher with 237 yards and a touchdown.
That includes this past Friday’s game against Commerce. In that game, he passed for 231 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 10 times for 138 yards.
His supporting cast on offense has been impressive as well.
Running back Orion Thomas has run for 619 yards and four touchdowns. Wide receivers Soloman Biscarro and Chance Grayson have been the top receivers. Grayson has 544 receiving yards, while Biscarro has 542 receiving yards.
“Their quarterback is accurate and throws the ball well,” Felty said. “Their running back runs really hard. He has good vision and runs well. Their receivers have good hands and are good possession receivers.”
If that offense performs well enough to force a repeat performance of one year ago, Felty said he hopes his team can have a repeat performance of one week ago and can pull out a win. Van Alstyne has proven through its first eight games that it knows how to do that.
“They make few mistakes,” Felty said of Van Alstyne. “They play with a lot of intensity. They hustle. They obviously know how to win since they are 8-0.”
NORTH LAMAR PANTHERS
Tentative starting lineup for the North Lamar Panthers:
OFFENSE
Quarterback — Ryan White, 6-0, 185, sr.
Running back — Dakota Boles, 5-11, 185, jr.
Fullback — Sam Harrington, 5-9, 160, jr.
Wide receiver — Canyon Conley, 6-3, 180, sr.
Wide receiver — T.J. Shirley, 6-2, 175, sr.
Tight end — Austin Parson, 6-2, 216, sr.
Left tackle — Matt Farmer, 6-2, 260, sr.
Left guard — Clay Flippen, 5-10, 190, jr.
Center — Dakota Newman, 5-11, 270, jr.
Right guard — Michael Davidson, 5-9, 205, jr.
Right tackle — Devin Noiel, 5-10, 255, jr.
Kicker — Will Harrington, 6-0, 180, jr.
DEFENSE
End — Ryan White, 6-0, 185, sr.
Tackle — Austin Parson, 6-2, 216, sr.
Nose guard — Ethan Elliott, soph.
Tackle — Matt Farmer, 6-2, 260, sr.
End — Will Harrington, 6-0, 180, jr.
Linebacker — Cody Daniel 5-11, 145, jr.
Linebacker — Dominic Corpus, 5-8, 195, jr.
Cornerback — David Bozarth, 5-8, 155, sr.
Cornerback — Tyler Walston, 5-9, 155, sr.
Safety — Canyon Conley, 6-3, 180, sr.
Safety — T.J. Shirley, 6-2, 175, sr.
Punter — Ryan White, 6-0, 185, sr.
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