Lewis County Herald - Serving Hohenwald, Lewis County Tennessee Since 1898

Stats/ Barry Churchwell

The Lewis County High School Panthers traveled to Centerville for Friday night football against Region 6AA foe the Hickman County Bulldogs on September 16th in the Battle for the Brown Jug.

The Panthers and Bulldogs were each held in check on their first possessions, but Lewis County started the scoring on their second possession. Quarterback Brycen McDonald hit Dyer Barnes on a 42-yard pass to reach the endzone, and Lincoln Brewer added the two-point conversion run to give the Panthers an 8-0 lead that would be the only score by either team in the opening twelve minutes of action.

Hickman County would score seconds into the second quarter on a 7-yard touchdown pass but fail on the conversion and made the score 8-6 early in the second quarter.

Moments later, the Panthers would find the endzone on a 40-yard pass from McDonald to Bentley Kelsey and another run from Brewer for two points to make it a 16-6 game.

The Panthers would capitalize on field position on their next possession and Lincoln Brewer would power his way to score on a 6-yard run followed by a two-point conversion pass from McDonald to Barnes to make it a 24-6 game.

Lewis County would tack on two more scores in an explosive second quarter of action, McDonald would hit Kelsey for a 7-yard score and again on a 50-yard strike, and conversion tosses to Barnes and Malachi Bruce to give the Panthers a 40-6 lead as the game reached halftime.

Lewis County began rotating in reserves in the second half, and midway through the third quarter Micah Godfrey bounced outside and sprinted to the endzone on a 62-yard touchdown run on his first touch of the game. Timothy Brown conncected on the point after kick to stretch the Panther lead to 47-6.

With a running clock in the fourth quarter, Hickman County found the endzone on an 8-yard touchdown pass but the kick failed and made the score Lewis County 47 Hickman County 12.

The Panthers would add one final score when Kai Bosque broke free on a 37-yard run for a touchdown, but the conversion failed and the Panthers took a 53-12 lead that would end as the final with the Panthers taking the Region matchup and the Little Brown Jug.

Brycen McDonald was 7 for 9 passing for 178 yards and 4 touchdowns in the game. Bentley Kelsey had 4 catches for 122 yards and 3 scores, Dyer Barnes 2 receptions for 46 yards and a touchdown, and Malachi Bruce 1 catch for 10 yards. Micah Godfrey had 108 yards on the ground on 3 carries, Kai Bosque 2 carries for 49 yards and a touchdown, Lincoln Brewer 9 carries for 44 yards and a touchdown, Chaz Sparkman 2 carries for 27 yards, and Brycen McDonald 1 carry for 3 yards.

Lincoln Brewer led the Panther defense with 6 tackles, Chaz Sparkman 5 tackles and an interception, Lane Barnes 5 tackles and a fumble recovery, Dominic Seiber 5 tackles, Ethan Ray 4 tackles, Eli Carroll 3 tackles and a sack, Micah Godfrey 3 tackles, Kaiden Shepherd, Jalen Smith, Bentley Kelsey, Malachi Bruce, Nathaniel Caamal, and Logan Graves 2 tackles each, James Azcarate and Dyer Barnes each had a tackle and an interception, and Timothy Brown 1 tackle.

The Panthers will be on the road again facing Region opponent Loretto on Friday night, September 23rd.