Pine Prairie Panthers, Port Barre Red Devils each want first win

By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor PINE PRAIRIE – There’s no time like the present for the Pine Prairie Panthers. It’s been a tough first year for head coach Joe Heintz and his team. Currently sitting at 0-9, they’ve battled all year to find their identity. They’ve finally found a spark the past few weeks with a big-play passing attack led by senior quarterback Branson Fontenot and wide receiver De’Jon Lemalle. It’s a spark the Panthers hope carries them out of a winless season against the Port Barre Red Devils tomorrow night. “I think it’s the biggest game of the year. It’s the final one of the year,” Heintz said. “It’s big for both programs because nobody wants to go winless. It’s huge for us going forward, trying to get that first win and go into the offseason with some success.” Success has been rare for Pine Prairie this year. It struggled in its attempt to install a run-first attack. When it went back to what was familiar, it still took a couple weeks for the Panthers to begin scoring points with it. Pine Prairie nearly snapped the streak two weeks ago in a tough-luck loss to Northwest, and fell last week to Mamou by a 30-20 margin. Regardless, the points have been coming for Pine Prairie. Much of that has to do with the chemistry developed between Fontenot and Lemalle in the passing game. “It’s going to be huge,” Heintz said. “That little connection has been the spark for our offense the past couple weeks. It’s moved the football for us. It’ll be huge for them to be on the same page and have those same connections like the past few weeks.” What tomorrow will ultimately boil down to though is a battle of wills between two teams who want to end the year on a high note. For Port Barre, that’ll come in the form of a run-based attack. “Unfortunately, it’s two teams that haven’t had much success,” Heintz said. “They want to run the football with the veer. They’ve had more success with that than earlier this year. As far as matchups, the last few weeks we’ve played hard and been more consistent. I think it’ll be the same this Friday.”