Last week's showdown between the Lufkin Panthers and The Woodlands Highlanders seemed like the biggest game of the year for the Lufkin Panthers.

A packed house at Abe Martin turned out to see the Panthers go against the third-ranked Highlanders in a game The Woodlands eventually won, 31-21. It was a tough loss for Lufkin since it wrapped up the district title for the Highlanders.

Now just a week later, the Panthers will play a game that is even more important, at least for seeding purposes in the playoffs, as the Panthers travel to Woodforest Bank Stadium in The Woodlands to take on the Oak Ridge War Eagles tonight.

"Last week was a big game for us, and we had a lot of guys with broken hearts, especially our seniors," Lufkin head coach John Outlaw said. "But we've got another big one this week that is going to determine which seed we get. Our kids really need to get that bad taste out of their mouth after last week."

Outlaw said that even more important than the playoff seeding may be the team building some momentum as it will head into the playoffs for the 12th straight season next week.

"If we want to have a chance of making any kind of playoff run, we've got to get our swagger back," Outlaw said. "I thought we had it back after the College Park game, but we just kept doing the same things against The Woodlands. We need to have that swagger if we're going to make some noise after this week."

That may not be an easy task against an Oak Ridge team that appears to be vastly improved from previous seasons. Oak Ridge opened district with an 0-2 record but bounced back with two straight wins over New Caney and College Park.

Last Friday's 24-0 win over College Park sealed Oak Ridge's spot in the postseason.

"They're going to come into Friday's game feeling good about themselves and they should," Outlaw said. "They just shut down College Park and are going to be pretty excited because they're in the playoffs.

"We can't worry about that. We made too many mistakes last week and we need to come out and correct that this week."

The strength of the War Eagles has been on the offensive side of the ball. The War Eagles have scored at least 21 points in every game this season and are averaging 33 points per game.

Using a running attack, the War Eagles have been able to put up big numbers in most games this season.

Running back Torain Oakley leads the rushing attack with 853 yards and 10 touchdowns and is also the team's leading receiver with 16 catches for 263 yards and three touchdowns.

Quarterback Ryan Cyr has thrown for 1,100 yards and 13 touchdowns with five interceptions and is also the second leading rusher with 683 yards and nine touchdowns on 134 attempts.

Although Cyr has some good numbers throwing, Outlaw expects the War Eagles to try to do most of their damage on the ground.

"They've got a guy that I think might be the best running back in the district with Oakley," Outlaw said. "Their quarterback's a big guy that can run pretty well. They've got a great deal of confidence because they've scored on everybody they've played."

Where the War Eagles may be susceptible will be on defense. Oak Ridge has two shutouts this season with a 34-0 win over Caney Creek and last week's 24-0 win over College Park being the high mark.

The War Eagles also allowed just seven points against New Caney. However, in the other six games, Oak Ridge has allowed an average of 34 points per game.

"Pretty much every team they've played before last week had scored against them," Outlaw said. "They play the same type of defense that all the Conroe ISD schools have played so we've seen the same thing the last three weeks. We just need to execute and not turn the ball over."

Kickoff for tonight's game is slated for 7:30.