by Marshall Loeffler
The Bunkie Panthers recovered from an 0-2 start with three straight victories, but head coach Jimmie Hillman sees steady progress regardless of the early results. Panther fans knew that new starters would be stepping into key roles across the roster, the Panthers spent the opening weeks adjusting to new positions and gelling as a team. Despite the early losses, Hillman feels that the team has continued to build momentum.
“I think we’re improving,” Hillman said this week. “And the record shows that; but regardless of the result on the field, we do feel like we’re improving in a lot of areas. There are a lot of new guys in key roles this year, so it’s taken a little bit of time to mesh and gel. But we’re seeing improvement in all three phases of the game, which really is what you want going through non-district, into the district season, and into the postseason.”
Bunkie’s two early setbacks came against currently unbeaten squads with distinctly different schemes, according to Hillman. Facing Eunice’s wing attack and Cavalry’s spread offense gave the Panthers early exposure to top-tier competition and highlighted specific areas for growth.
“Seeing that level of competition early showed us that maybe we’re not where we need to be and there’s still a lot of room to improve,” Hillman said. “Seeing ourselves against two great opponents like that in different styles of offense and defense really showed us areas that we need to improve on against multiple types of teams, because in our division, we’re going to see both.”
As Bunkie navigates the second half of the schedule, they will experience the same kind of playoff caliber teams. The upcoming stretch features great matchups against Ouachita Christian, Jena, and Marksville.
“The challenge lies in staying healthy,” Hillman said. “That’s always a big key in the second half of the season for everybody: staying healthy, but continuing to find ways to improve. The second half of our schedule has three really good teams that can be quarterfinal, semifinal type teams in OCS, Jena, and Marksville in week 10.”
The difference this year has been the early adversity, and the large amount of questions that had to be answered early. But Austin Fitzgerald, Kayden Dobbins, Xavier Stafford, Jeffery Rushing, and Ketron Watson have the offense moving by now. Mitchell Couvilion, Tripp Larwood, and Jordan Augustine have met their expectations so far, and they will get a great test to start the second half of this season against the top-ranked Eagles.
“OCS is as good as it gets when it comes to a program that’s done it for a long time, over 40 years,” Hillman said. “This is a big-time program, but for us, it really just feels like the next game. We’ve played all these good teams and good programs already to this point… It’s finding ways to compete in that game and hopefully be able to pull it out.”
With the second half of the season underway, Hillman expressed confidence in the group’s focus and growth, highlighting their development both on the practice field and on game days.
“I think this group’s really mature, and through this first half of the year moving into the second half, the maturity of understanding how they need to play and how they need to work at practice has really taken a big step forward,” Hillman said.
