Lane down to final game of 2023 season

Lane’s football team is down to one more game to try to get its second win of the year.

The Dragons (1-8) fell on the road this past week to Central State, 17-14, after leading 14-0 in the first half.

“It’s not for a lack of effort that we’re having trouble closing out games,” said Lane head coach Vyron Brown. “We had problems executing on offense in the second half, and our defense did a good job and allowed them to score only once.

“Their last touchdown came off special teams.”

The winning touchdown came late in the fourth quarter when Central State blocked a Lane punt deep in Dragon territory and returned it for the go-ahead touchdown.

The loss sent Lane home on an eight-hour bus ride to look back and think about what went wrong in the loss.

“It’s back to the lab for us, and we talked [Monday] about having one more game this season and wanting to provide a quality memory for the seniors to go out on this week,” Brown said. “What better way to do that than to send them out with a win?

“That’s our plan for this week.”

This week’s opponent is Savannah State, who has two wins in 2023.

Savannah State’s struggles appear to mirror those of Lane’s – having a hard time executing on either side of the ball at times and struggling to put everything together in the same game to get a win.

“One of the things we talked about with them this week is we’re 26 points away from being 7-2 right now,” Brown said about Lane. “So we’re not that far off from being a much more competitive team in the SIAC.

“And hopefully the frustrations that we’re dealing with right now are building toward these guys that are coming back next year not repeating them next year.”

Brown said while the preparation for the game won’t be any different because it’s the final game this year, he is appreciative of what the seniors have contributed to the program during their time here.

“Everyone on our team now have come here since I’ve been head coach,” said Brown, who was named head coach in January of 2020. “And these guys – most of them at least – were here for the COVID year when we went a full year without playing any games.

“But most of our roster that year was on campus, and we were able to meet together for practice and workouts on the practice field. They’ve stuck with us for their entire college careers, and now they’re ready to move on when they graduate from here. We’re glad to have had them in our program.”

Kickoff on Saturday is set for 2 p.m. at Lane Field.

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news