Stiggers runs riot in Lanett’s romp over LaFayette
BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
LANETT — The cat may be out of the bag when it comes to one of the previously best-kept secrets in Alabama high school football.
Lanett High School’s P.J. Stiggers gashed LaFayette High School for 304 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries as the Panthers (4-2) breezed past the Bulldogs (1-4) 63-6 at Morgan-Washburn Stadium on Sept. 25.
The freshman wasn’t the only Lanett player to get in on the action. R.J. Tucker rushed 10 times for 137 yards and three TDs, and Javeion Washington went 3-for-5 for 48 passing yards while tallying four carries for 23 rushing yards and two TDs.
Defensively, Braylon Chambers had nine total tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack, and T.J. Tucker had nine tackles and a tackle for loss.
For LaFayette Demetrius Harrington finished 8-for-19 for 161 yards, a TD and an interception, Jeremiah Whitlow had 138 combined yards and a TD catch on 16 combined touches and Kemare Harrington finished with eight total tackles and two defended passes.
The performance came one week after Lanett rushed for 379 yards against Randolph County High School. Lanett head coach R.J. McDonald said his team’s goal against LaFayette was 400 yards. The Panthers ended up gaining 523 yards on 53 attempts — 9.9 yards per rush.
“I think we’re really dominating up front at the point of contact, and I can tell we’re running our feet really well. We’ve been on the sled a lot really trying to get back to the basics of blocking and offensive football,” McDonald said. “For us moving forward, we’re going to need to continue to do that. Basic football wins.”
For P.J. Stiggers, the night proved to be a milestone in his young career.
“I feel great, man. We’ve been working out, working on getting our pad level down and working on cutbacks on the backside,” P.J. Stiggers said. “This is my first time [running for more than 300 yards in a game]. It feels good knowing I can do this.”
LaFayette gave the Panthers an early test. A 35-yard catch by Zephi Madden moved the Bulldogs into Lanett territory on the game’s opening possession, but the Panthers’ defense held on fourth-and-3 at its own 17 yard line.
Lanett answered with a drive in which it ran the ball on every play, and P.J. Stiggers capped it with a 2-yard TD run with 7:57 left in the first quarter. The Panthers recovered a squib kick at the LaFayette 31 on the ensuing kickoff, and P.J. Stiggers scored again on a 7-yard run with 7:12 left in the opening period to make it 13-0.
The Bulldogs threatened again, but Lanett forced a fumble and recovered at its own 11. The Panthers gave the ball right back on the next play, but the Bulldogs came away empty-handed. R.J. Tucker then broke loose off left tackle for a 47-yard TD run with 1:12 left in the first quarter, leaving Lanett ahead 19-0.
P.J. Stiggers pulled the Panthers out of the shadow of their own end zone with a 31-yard run and, several plays later, scored on a 37-yard run with 7:41 left in the second quarter. He also ran in the two-point conversion for a 27-0 lead.
Tempers flared on the next Lanett drive when a LaFayette player delivered a big hit out of bounds on the Lanett sideline, sparking a scuffle that carried over into nearly every remaining play of the possession. R.J. Tucker finished the drive with a 1-yard TD run with 4:19 left before halftime, and T.J. Tucker ran in the two-point conversion to make it 35-0.
LaFayette again drove to the doorstep of the Lanett 10 yard line, but Chambers’ sack on fourth down ended the threat. R.J. Tucker scored his third TD of the half on a 7-yard run with three seconds left before the break, and the extra point sent Lanett into halftime with a 42-0 lead.
Jayden Stiggers opened the second half with a 71-yard kickoff return for a TD. The Bulldogs responded by driving to the Lanett 20, but Zaven Lynch intercepted a pass in the end zone.
It was the sixth time LaFayette reached the Lanett 20 yard line or closer, and the sixth time it came away with zero points. The Bulldogs finished with 317 yards of total offense, but their only TD of the night would come on a play that started 79 yards from the end zone.
According to LaFayette head coach Douglas Jones Jr., the frustration was that while the offense moved the ball and got into Lanett territory nine times, it couldn’t finish drives.
“That’s insane when you look at the score,” Jones said. “If we can get in there, the score looks totally different.”
Jones said the breakdowns often came down to one or two players missing assignments on a given play.
“That’s been our M.O. the entire year,” Jones said. “We’ve moved the ball on everyone we’ve played, but once we get in plus territory, we tend to self-sabotage.”
McDonald said his defense’s ability to keep teams out of the end zone reflects a change in experience from a year ago.
“Last year, we were kind of a team where if somebody crossed midfield, we were upset. And now it’s, I hate to use this term because it’s coach speak, but the bend but don’t break,” McDonald said. “As long as we’re not letting the teams put it in the end zone, we’re going to be okay going forward.”
Washington added an 8-yard TD run with 6:08 left in the third quarter and a 1-yard TD run with 11:10 left to make it 63-0. LaFayette avoided the shutout when Whitlow took a swing pass out of the backfield from Demetrius Harrington 79 yards for a TD with 9:40 remaining.
The game was called with 6:04 left to play due to chippy play and numerous personal foul penalties.
McDonald also praised the work ethic of P.J. Stiggers and several of the Panthers’ other young players.
“He’s practicing harder. That’s shocking. Sometimes a young guy can get to resting on his laurels and not work hard, but he’s absolutely been working at practice,” McDonald said. “And not just him, all of them. Damian Hurston’s been really good for us at linebacker. … Javeion Washington at quarterback, he’s in seventh grade, and that kid just gets better every game.”
Jaylen Hill, a senior University of Missouri offensive line commit, said the win carried extra weight because of the opponent.
“We just put up 63 points, that’s the greatest feeling in the world, especially against a rival,” Hill said. “I think everybody’s just grasping the plays and the new schemes that we’ve been [running] in practice.”
Jones didn’t sugarcoat the result for his players afterward.
“I just keep it real with them,” Jones said. “The real is that we kind of got our butts kicked.”
Still, with four region games left and just two region losses, Jones said LaFayette controls its own path to the postseason.
“As crazy as it seems, we still control our own destiny to get to the playoffs,” Jones said. “We’ve got to start capitalizing offensively, and we’ve got to start stopping the run. But I told them that everything we wanted is still in place.”
The win was Lanett’s 10th straight in the series, and the Panthers extended their all-time record against LaFayette to 44-11-1. According to Alabama High School Football Historical Society records, it was the most lopsided game in the rivalry’s history.
Lanett travels to Sylacauga on Oct. 2 to take on B.B. Comer High School (1-5, 0-3) in a return to Class 2A Region 4 play. The Tigers are coming off a 28-21 home win over Fayetteville High School on Sept. 25.
The Bulldogs also hit the road to face Class 1A Region 6 foe Notasulga High School (1-4, 0-2) on Oct. 2. The Blue Devils most recently lost 41-6 on the road to Fayetteville on Sept. 18.
