photo by Ben Hillyer

Vidalia’s Quan Riley steps out of the tackle attempt by Ferriday’s Bobby Madison last Friday night during the Trojans’ 34-24 win over the Vikings. Vidalia will take on Avoyelles for its homecoming game this Friday.

Vikings look to get first win of season

By Michael Kerekes (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Thursday, September 24, 2009

VIDALIA — Vidalia High School is gearing up for its first district game against Avoyelles High School Friday.

The Vikings (0-3) are coming off a hard-fought loss to Ferriday High School, and assistant coach Gary Parnham Jr. said he’s looking to build off the positives from that game.

“We played (a full) 48 minutes,” Parnham said. “As I said last week, we had a chance to fold up after they scored first, but we didn’t.

“This week, we’re emphasizing playing a full 48 minutes (again) and coming out with a win.”

Vidalia head coach Dee Faircloth missed last Friday’s game because of illness. Parnham said Faircloth is feeling much better this week, but still isn’t well enough to lead practice yet.

“He’s been to school the last few days,” Parnham said. “He’s still getting a little weak at the end of the day, so he’ll go home after going over with us what he wants us to do in practice. (The assistants) take over from there.”

The Vikings got a scare last Friday when fullback Quan Riley went down with a neck injury and had to be taken to Natchez Regional Medical Center by ambulance.

Riley is back in practice this week and is playing at 100 percent, Parnham said.

“He’s doing fine. It ended up being a pinched nerve, and he ended up being a little dehydrated (Friday night). He’s a tough kid.”

With the Vikings entering district play, Parnham said it’s essentially a whole new season for his players.

“In football, there are three separate seasons: non-district, district and the postseason,” Parnham said. “We’re done with the first one, and we’re entering the second, which is the most important one, because it determines whether you get into the playoffs or not. We have to be clicking on all cylinders.

“Our district is wide open this year. I think one team is 1-2, and everyone else is 0-3.”

Avoyelles looks to bring a formidable running attack against the Vikings, Parnham said.

“They run a split-back wing offense with a lot of motion,” Parnham said. “They have some good athletes, and from looking at the film, they look to have pretty good speed.”

Parnham said his defense would have to be mentally ready to keep Avoyelles’ players in check, and the offense would have to be able to sustain long drives.

“On defense, we will have to play our assignments so that we can stop the sweeps and option plays they run. They’re going to have to get three and outs and put the ball back into the offense’s hands.

“On offense, we have got to control the line of scrimmage and get the running game going. A perfect game for us will be if we can run 50 to 60 plays on offense.”