LaGrange, Ga. — The Fort Benning Doughboys are wounded in the trenches.
Head coach Jason Gibson said a significant amount of his players on the offensive and defensive lines were unavailable for Sunday’s game against the LaGrange College junior varsity squad due to injuries or duty. Fort Benning lost 16-12 and fell to 2-2 on the season, with its final game set for Thursday at Doughboy Stadium against the Team James All-Stars, a semipro team from Atlanta.
These weren’t the same Panthers the Doughboys played in the first game of the season on Oct. 2, either. Fort Benning won that game 33-12.
“I think the difference was having a month of practice under our belts from then and now,” LaGrange head coach Marc Mattioli said. “The guys looked a lot sharper. There were no blown coverages like there were in that first game.”
Fort Benning led throughout the first half and had several opportunities to pull out the win in the fourth quarter. Gibson said, ultimately, the mistakes could have been fixed with a solid week of practice.
“We had a lot of blown blocking assignments and running assignments,” Gibson said. “That’s directly attributed to not being at practice. We had a ton of guys in the field this week. We had four days of practice and three of those days we couldn’t practice pass protection. We lost two starting offensive linemen to injuries, another today and another wasn’t able to be here.”
Gibson also said his best linebacker, Donta Bailey, and his best corner, Samuel Gonzalez, were not available.
One of the key plays came in the second quarter as Fort Benning led 6-0. LaGrange punter Nick Powell pinned Fort Benning on its 1-yard line and the Panthers tackled Mario Johnson in the end zone for a safety.
“The safety should have never happened,” Gibson said. “We also missed two extra points and a field goal. We had a pick and a fumble; just a lot of mistakes.”
The fumble proved to be the most costly turnover. Trailing 16-12 with two minutes remaining in the game, the Doughboys would have had a chance to mount a game-winning drive, but Demetrius Carter muffed a punt near midfield, which was recovered by the Panthers.
The Doughboys managed to rack up more than 250 yards of offense in the first half, 120 coming from running back Emmanuel Batson, but the offensive line struggled against the LaGrange defense in the second half. Batson had just 5 rushing yards in the second half.
“There were a couple of long runs where we didn’t keep them contained … and they sprung for 50 or 60 yards,” Mattioli said. “We got that corrected … and had guys flying to the ball.”
The win marked the season’s final game for the Panthers junior varsity team. Mattioli said the experience of playing the Doughboys twice this season not only allowed players to see playing time who never would have seen the field otherwise, but also benefited next year’s varsity team as well.
“This makes them feel like they’re part of the team rather than just scout guys at practice,” Mattioli said. “On top of that, it’s getting valuable game experience for those guys for the future. It’s invaluable. These guys will be leaps and bounds ahead of where they would be if they didn’t get that experience.”
