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VIDALIA, La. — Ferriday High School senior quarterback Caleb Ellis accounted for three total touchdowns, two passing and one rushing, as the Trojans defeated the Vidalia High School Vikings 50-20 last Friday night at Dee Faircloth Viking Stadium in the 2024 Concordia Classic.

Ellis threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Desmen Jefferson less than three minutes into the game and a 10-yard TD pass to Jerry Griffin Jr. early in the second quarter to help give the Trojans a 22-6 lead.

Vidalia, led by junior quarterback Elmari ‘Juice’ Lewis, tried to rely on the passing game to stay in the game. Lewis had touchdown passes of 39 yards late in the first quarter, 30 yards with less than a minute left until halftime to make it a 22-12 game, and a 12-yard TD pass and two-point conversion with about seven minutes left in the third quarter that cut Ferriday’s lead at that point to 30-20.

“We’ve got 38 kids on the roster and they played hard. But we got off to a slow start,” Vidalia head coach Josh West said. “In the second quarter, we showed some improvement stopping the run. That’s how we got back in the game”

But a rushing touchdown nearly midway through the third quarter and Ellis’s two-point conversion run gave the Trojans a 38-20 lead. It was Ferriday from that point on. Ellis scored on a one-yard run and Griffin Jr. scored on a 57-yard TD run with about six minutes left in the ball game.

“They were able to run the ball in the second half. Injuries and cramps started to plague us. But that’s part of the game,” West said. “We had seven players go down tonight. It was a game of momentum. Our kids fought hard. We’re a young team and we have to be mentally prepared.”

Despite the impressive win to start the season, Trojans assistant coach Devante Scott said they could have played much better on both sides of the ball.

“It’s always good to beat your rival. But tonight, we could’ve played better. Defensive line couldn’t contain their quarterback. Credit their offensive line for blocking good. Offensively, the offensive line played bad. I’m not giving our offensive line any credit. Running backs had to make them right. The running backs we have are special,” Scott said.

West noted that not only did Lewis have a good game, so did two of his wide receivers.

“Marc Perkins caught two touchdowns. He had over 100 yards on six catches. Michael Randall Jr. had a great game. He had over 100 yards and a 60-yard punt return,” West said.

Scott added that he wants the offensive line to be dominant, but that wasn’t the case against the Vikings. He then noted, “Defensively, we did poor tackling. Lot of missed tackles. We’ve got to work on that. I’m happy with the win, but I know we could’ve played better.”

Ferriday (1-0) travels to Jonesville, La. to take on Block High School next Friday at 7 p.m. Vidalia (0-1) will look to pick up its first win of the season when it travels to Ferriday to take on Delta Charter School at 7 p.m. next Friday.