Panthers play for first place Friday

The Stone Memorial High School Panthers are on the road to DeKalb County for the final game of the regular season Friday.

On the line is a first-place finish in the region and the chance to host a playoff game the following week.

After a win at home against the Kingston Yellow Jackets last week, Coach Derik Samber said he’d be working with his team on executing plays and reducing penalties and turnovers.

“Minimizing mistakes is an important concept in every game, but it is really amplified against talented, well-coached teams, and DeKallb County is certainly both of those things,” Samber said Thursday. “Our coaching staff has done a great job of being detail-oriented this week, and I think that approach has a chance to pay off in the form of fewer errors and mistakes. The players recognize and own that our performance against Kingston was lackadaisical and have voiced their commitment to get back to who we are this week.”

The Panthers have an 8-1 record overall and are 3-1 in region 4-4A. They’ve been locked in a three-way tie for top of the region with Upperman, who Stone defeated earlier in the season, and Macon County, who topped the Panthers 35-34 in a game that went down to the final seconds.

But Macon County lost last week to non-conference rival Smith County, giving Stone the chance to take the top spot in the region and enter the playoffs with home-field advantage Nov. 4.

“The kids have handled the week of practice really well,” Samber said concerning the extra significance of the final regular season game. “They have embraced the importance of this game and it has resulted in an added level of focus and intensity in each day of preparation this week.”

Samber is looking to a couple of underclassmen to continue to progress and shine this week.

“I really look to Houston Woody to build on his big performance last week where he got in the end zone twice. Isaac Pheaster played his best game of the year against Kingston as well,” Samber said.

Samber said his senior players, honored last week at the final home game of the regular season, are dedicated to getting the team as far into the post-season as possible.

“I’ve chosen not to wax poetic about this group too much because it feels like this team still has several weeks of football in them with a potential to make a playoff run,” Samber said. “That has been their mission and goal from the outset and their performance against DeKalb County will determine the path that playoff run takes.”

But, he added, “They’re fun to coach because football matters to them. They watch film, ask good questions, take pride in how our entire team practices. This is a special group of seniors for sure.”

DeKalb County High School is at 1130 W. Broad St. in Smithville. Travel time is about 1 hour 15 minutes. To reach the school, take Hwy. 70 W. through Sparta to Smithville.