Brookhaven High sliced up the Lawrence County defense on the opening drive of their game Friday night at King Field with a surgeon-like precision. It was a preview of things to come as the Panthers never left any doubt in a 33-6 win over the Cougars.

The opening drive was capped by an 8-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Sevante Quinn to senior wide receiver John Hilbert.

It looked so orchestrated that one would think the drive was scripted. Quinn says the Panthers were just taking what the defense gave them.

“Playing a huge rival, we just came out and knew that we needed a strong start,” said Quinn.

A four-year starter, Quinn would account for four touchdowns in the game. His two passing scores went to Hilbert and Jariq Motley. Twice Quinn scored with his feet.

His final touchdown came with 5:38 remaining in the game. Quinn rolled out into the flat and looked to pass. When he saw the defense drop deep into coverage, he weaved through the Cougar defense on a 15-yard dash to pay-dirt.

As good as things were for the Panthers — scoring on their first possession and leading 26-6 at halftime — Panther coach Tucker Peavey still sees areas his team can grow in.

“I thought we did a lot of things better tonight,” said Peavey. “At the same time we’ve got a lot of things we can still improve on for both sides of the ball. This week of practice you could see us improving and I think that if the guys want it, we can keep getting better every week.”

Quinn echoes his head coach in the potential for his team to grow.

“We’re improving every week, you can see it in practice,” said Quinn.

The Panther defense was just as hot as their offensive counterparts. Feeding off that opening drive, Brookhaven forced a Lawrence County turnover on the first Cougar drive.

Lawrence County would have possession of the ball for the entire third quarter except for two plays. That long time of possession netted the Cougar zero points as the Panthers held Lawrence County on a fourth down play to take back over possession.

Defensive end Coker Wright was a problem for the Cougars to block all night and the Panther linebackers were never fooled by any misdirections used by the Cougar offense.

Lawrence County was coming off of a game in which they put up 53 points against North Pike. On Friday night the BHS defense kept them behind the chains and forced punt after Lawrence County punt.

For the Panthers it was a welcome bounce back after a loss last week at Pearl. King Field was packed with a huge crowd that saw Peavey — back at Brookhaven after an eight year span of not coaching the Panthers — leading the team in his first home game since Nov. 26, 2010.

Story by Cliff Furr