IOTA – Iota Head Coach Neal Legé knows his team took steps back in their Friday night loss to Oakdale, but entering the final stretch of games, it is all or nothing with each game.

“We talked a little about the game Friday, but now we have to move on,” he said. "We don't have time to dwell on what happened Friday.

That must-win road for Iota, which now sits at 2-5 (1-1 in district 5-2A) begins Thursday night when they host the Pine Prairie Panthers (1-5, 0-2).

The Panthers started the season with an open date thanks to Hurricane Isaac. They followed that with a win against the Hurricanes of North Central. Since Week Two, however, it has not gone well for Pine Prairie, losing five straight and, in recent weeks, in unpretty fashion.

“Pine Prairie seems to be unraveling as the season has gone on, particularly in the last couple of weeks,” said Legé.

So far this season, Pine Prairie has allowed 205 total points (199 in its losses), on a per-game average, the Panthers have allowed 34.17 points in its six games, 39.8 in its five losses. The Panthers defense has struggled mightily this year, even in good performances. It has allowed six, 36, 35, 52, 34 and 42 points, respectively.

With Iota coming off of its statistically best game of the season, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility to believe offensive consistency could pay big dividends for the Bulldogs this week.

In its 41-35 loss to Oakdale, Iota racked up 413 yards of total offense against the Warriors. It featured Iota finding impressive offensive rhythm on its final two drives, and it once again became the Brandon Fantroy show as he picked up 212 yards on the ground, 51 yards in the air, or 263 yards total, or about 64 percent of the offensive production.

But all of that came after a rough start for the Bulldogs, and for Iota to beat Pine Prairie, and on a larger scope its three final opponents, Legé knows the importance of getting a good start.

"You know I think we had a good night productivity wise on offense," he said. "If you take the fumbles out, that game is not even close.

"But the fumbles are things we can correct."

Even in its tumultuous season, Iota is scoring about 20 points per game. Those numbers haven't come as easy to its opponent, however. In its six games this season, the Panthers have scored 70 total points, but 26 came in its one victory. Meaning, they have scored 11.67 points per game (PPG) and only 8.8 PPG in its losses. Its offense, when going well or when sputtering along, has been highlighted each week by its freshman running back Douglas Fontenot. But Pine Prairie also has playmakers at the quarterback position—Dylan Doucet and Cade Vidrine, wide receiver—Gijuan Anderson, and running back—JP Vidrine. Legé knows that means it will need to be all hands on deck for Iota Thursday.

“They're trying to find an identity on offense it seems,” he said. "They don't know whether they want to run the I or the spread. So right now, they're struggling to find something that works on offense. Hopefully, we can take advantage.

"They have some good looking skill guys that are really athletic, but they're just struggling to get the ball to them."

For the first time since the early part of the season, Iota could not seem to find answers on defense last week either, compounding the problems. Legé knows that can't happen again.

"That (the Oakdale game) was the worst game I've seen our defense play all year, even against Vinton they played solidly, that game had 14 fumbles and that's just putting your defense in bad spots," he said. "But, that was the first really bad game I can say I've seen them play. We just have to respond."

The Bulldogs defense has been holding high powered offenses to their less-than-normal output each week, with the exclusions of mainly Vinton (Week One) and Oakdale (last week). Still, the Bulldogs have allowed only 25 points per game this season.

It's a lot of things to be fixed and it has to be done on a short week as the game comes one day sooner than normal. Still, according to Iota's coach, the team has responded well already.

"We came out yesterday (Monday) and had a real good practice," said Legé. "Now we're just working on getting people healthy in a short week."

Iota has several players banged up with either day-to-day injuries or week-to-week, leading to Iota starting more new guys on its offensive line.

"We're patchwork on the offensive line right now."

The Panthers and Bulldogs will clash at Bulldog Stadium Thursday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.