The outlook was bleak for Lufkin late in the first half of last Friday's game against Tyler Lee. The Panthers trailed 42-3 and were facing an 0-2 start to the season.

That's when Panthers junior quarterback Kordell Rodgers sprung to action.

Rodgers (6-0, 175) led an improbable 39-point comeback as Lufkin knocked off the Red Raiders, 52-49, in overtime. For his efforts, Rodgers is the ETSN.fm + Dairy Queen Offensive Player of the Week, following last week's winner Keenen Johnson of Alto.

The Lufkin signal-caller passed for 444 yards and four touchdowns, while adding 119 yards and two more scores on the ground. His 563 total yards of offense spurred a Panthers offense that put up 716 for the night.

It was his 36-yard touchdown strike to Dhailon Phillips, and Ellis Jackson's subsequent two-point conversion, that tied the game at 49-49 with a little more than two minutes remaining in regulation. Phillips had a big night himself with 10 catches for 228 yards and two touchdowns.

“There’s a reason why there’s not a quarterback controversy here. He is our guy, he is our man,” Quick said of Rodgers following Friday night's game. “We knew it coming in. Every day he comes out here, he will get better and better. And he’s not sitting on it, he’s going to work, and they will follow him. You’ve got to have that guy.”

Rodgers and his Panthers teammates travel to Shreveport to face Louisiana power West Monroe on Friday night in the annual Battle on the Border showcase at Independence Stadium.

ETSN.fm + Dairy Queen Offensive Players of the Week

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