LUMBERTON — Season-opening games are always full of excitement, but also often feature a large amount of questions that need to be answered, especially for a team trying to rebound from struggles in the previous season.

For the Lumberton football team, those answers will need to come quickly, as they will face a tough test Friday night when Terry Sanford comes to Alton Brooks Stadium to open the 2019 season.

Terry Sanford reached the third round of the 3A state playoffs as they were 10-4 in 2018 with a 6-2 mark in the Patriot Athletic Conference. The Bulldogs are 30-10 in three seasons under coach Bruce McClelland.

“They’ve got a lot of great players and he’s got it rolling up there,” said Lumberton coach Kelly Williamson, who is beginning his second year leading the Pirates. “We’ve got our hands full Friday. We’re just going to come out here and do what we do, try to take care of ourselves and not make a bunch of mistakes.”

Lumberton was 2-9 overall last season and 1-6 in the Sandhills Athletic Conference.

Junior Jadarion Chatman will start at quarterback for the Pirates, though Williamson anticipates he’ll also use junior Jaylen Perry and possibly sophomore Hayden Hickman.

“We’ll play two quarterbacks so I can move (Chatman) around,” Williamson said. “(Chatman) will start there and then we’ll play Perry some there and maybe Hickman. (Chatman) is our man. What we’re running, it gives him an opportunity to make some plays for us.”

The Bulldogs, who lost a lot of experience off last year’s team, will also be looking for some early-season answers.

Senior Jacob Knight, moving from wide receiver, will fill the void at quarterback after DavidJohn Herz’ graduation and entrance into professional baseball.

Dorian Clark led the Bulldogs with 1,662 rushing yards last season and returns for his senior campaign.

“Their running back is a stud,” Williamson said. “I think we’re going to be in some trouble trying to stop him – hopefully we can. We’ll do the best we can and try to put a hat on him and if we don’t it’s going to be a long night.”

Leading defensive returners for the Bulldogs include three seniors in linebacker Jackson Deaver, linebacker Tyquan Hayes and defensive lineman Elijah Morris.

The game will be the first meeting between the schools on the gridiron since 2008, when the teams met as members of the Two Rivers Conference. Terry Sanford won 28-7 in the 2008 meeting, while Lumberton won the most recent meeting at Alton Brooks Stadium, a 34-31 game in 2007.

Chris Stiles | The Robesonian Junior Jadarion Chatman will be Lumberton’s starting quarterback in their season opener Friday against Terry Sanford.
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_IMG_1430.jpgChris Stiles | The Robesonian Junior Jadarion Chatman will be Lumberton’s starting quarterback in their season opener Friday against Terry Sanford.
Terry Sanford to bring tough test in Week 1

By Chris Stiles

Staff writer

Chris Stiles can be reached at 910-816-1989 or by email at [email protected]. You can follow him on Twitter at @StilesOnSports.