PATTERSON’S MALIK BASS, Shundren Johnson and Tyler Blackburn pursue a fumble during the squad’s victory against Berwick two weeks ago. Patterson, which fell to Kaplan 28-27 last week on the road, will return home for a District 9-3A contest against Abbeville High School Friday.
PATTERSON — The Patterson Lumberjacks hope to regroup Friday against Abbeville in front of the home crowd.
The Lumberjacks lost to Kaplan, 28-27, on the road Friday after leading by 21 points.
“We have played better at home,” Patterson head coach Tommy Minton said. “When you have a young team, the familiar (surroundings) and routine are very important.”
Patterson raced out to a 27-6 halftime lead before Kaplan scored 22 unanswered points in the second half to spring the upset.
PHS had several big plays called back for penalties in the second half.
“Penalties at inopportune times really hurt us last week,” Minton said.
Patterson was penalized nine times for nearly 100 yards while Kaplan had two penalties for 10 yards.
“We spent the week trying to correct mistakes and working on cutting down on penalties,” Minton said.
Patterson (3-3, 1-2 District 9-3A) also suffered another blow last week, losing starting running back Deontay Jones to injury for the rest of the season.
“Deontay ran hard between the tackles for us and got the tough yards,” Minton said. “He will truly be missed, but our young backs have to pick up that slack now.”
Patterson’s offense was on fire in the first half. Quarterback Denzel Johnson tossed touchdown passes to Deondre Skinner and Daylon Charlot, while Jones had two short scoring runs.
Johnson completed 18-of-33 passes for 243 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
Skinner and Charlot were the top receivers with 81 and 84 yards, respectively.
Jones and Shelby Lavergne both had 39 yards rushing to lead the team.
The Jacks loss to Kaplan opened up the district race and Abbeville (1-5, 1-2) hopes to get back into contention Friday.
“We’re still a young team,” Abbeville head coach Larry Breaux said. “We’ve taken a step backward these past two weeks, but we’ve got to start moving forward.”
The Wildcats lost to Kaplan, 28-12, and Erath, 44-14, the past two weeks.
Minton says Abbeville has one huge weapon in running back Patrick Landry.
“He’s a very, very good football player with great speed,” he said. “He was the main reason Abbeville beat Franklin a couple weeks ago. He can keep them in games with his big plays, so we have to really tackle him.”
Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
Information from Vermilion Today was used in this story.
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