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Jena’s Brayden Oakes takes the ball down the field against Vidalia High School’s Donald Franklin. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Multiple Vidalia defenders take down Jena High School’s Daniel Hatcher. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Vidalia High School’s Tyler Brixey and Allen Williams try to tackle Jena High School’s Daniel Hatcher. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

(Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Vidalia High School’s Michael Randall Jr. tries to gain extra yardage against Jena’s Xavier Brown. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

VIDALIA, La. — The Jena High School Giants proved why they are the team to beat in LHSAA District 2-3A as they rolled to a 60-0 win over the Vidalia High School Vikings at Dee Faircloth Viking Stadium last Friday night.

“Jena is who we thought they were. We had a good game plan. We came out and completed the first pass and I thought that would give us some momentum. When they got the ball, the scored on the first run,” Vidalia head coach Josh West said.

West said that once Jena got on a roll, there was very little the Vikings could do to slow the Giants (5-2, 2-0) down. Jena’s running game and physical presence along the offensive line wore down Vidalia’s defense.

Vikings quarterback Elmari “Juice” Lewis tried to get the ball to Marc Perkins and the rest of the receiving corps, but as West put it, “We just didn’t have a good game holding on to the ball.”

Another thing that hurt the Vikings was the injury bug and it bit them bad. West said that a few players got injured and a couple of them were major injuries.

“There’s a difference between a team and a program. They’re an established program. We have freshmen who are learning to play the game,” West said. “We made mistakes. Just one of those nights. But we didn’t give up.”

Vidalia (2-5, 0-2) plays host to Marksville High School for homecoming next Friday at 7 p.m.

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