photo by Hannah Reel

Ferriday’s Carl Ray Thompson takes down Mangham’s Montel Hardman during the game Friday night.

Trojans slay Dragons

By Jeff Edwards (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Saturday, October 10, 2009

FERRIDAY — The Ferriday Trojans are on a mission this season, and on Friday night, they took the first step in accomplishing that mission, as the Trojans took out Mangham 34-12 in their District 2-2A opener.

“One down, four to go,” Ferriday coach Freddie Harrison said after the game, indicating the number of district games the team has left. “That’s our mission right now. We played Mangham, now we have four opponents left on our schedule. We’ve got to make sure we give them the same effort that we gave tonight.”

That effort saw the Trojans break open a close game with two late second quarter touchdowns and then use their suffocating defense to thwart any potential Mangham scoring drives in the second half.

“It was a real good start for us,” Harrison said. “We came out in the first two quarters and played good, hard football. But I think in the third and fourth quarters we kind of let off a little bit. We need to bring more intensity in the third and fourth quarters.”

While the final score might have been lopsided, the game was close for most of the first half.

Mangham looked to have momentum after Dragons quarterback Seth Parker hit Edward Blount on a 24-yard scoring pass to make the score 14-12 with 4:15 remaining.

However, when the Trojans got the ball back, they quickly went down and answered with a 9-yard Bobby Madison touchdown run with 1:42 remaining.

It was Madison’s third touchdown run of the first half. He also had a touchdown run of 16 yards in the first quarter and three yards early in the second quarter.

Mangham then tried to drive back down and score before halftime, but Parker was picked off by Neiceo Amado.

Ferriday took advantage of the turnover when Rodney Lawson connected with Alfred Banks on a 34-yard touchdown bomb 18 seconds before halftime that gave the Trojans a 28-12 lead.

“That’s what changed the game right there,” Harrison said. “Going into halftime we came out and scored, then they turned it over and we came back and threw the bomb. That was the difference in the game right there.”

The only touchdown in the second half came on Lawson’s second TD pass of the game, this one a 16-yarder to DeVonante Scott early in the fourth quarter.

Mangham twice drove inside the Ferriday 30-yard line in the second half, but one of those drives was stopped on downs and the other ended when Scott picked off Parker near the goal line.

Ferriday had 398 total yards in the game while Mangham totaled 241.

Madison rushed for 151 yards on 21 carries while Lawson passed for 156 yards and two touchdowns.

Banks caught four of Lawson’s seven completions for 125 yards and a touchdown.

Harrison said he was pleased with the offensive balance his team showed.

“It’s always good to have balance and not give a tendency to the run or the pass,” Harrison said. “We did a real good job tonight running the football. Bobby ran hard and the offensive linemen blocked really well. We also threw the ball well to offset (Mangham) from stacking the box.”