FERRIDAY &8212; When a team is hot, the last thing a coach wants is something to disrupt things.

Unfortunately, that&8217;s just what the Ferriday Trojans (2-0) got when they had an off week last week after outscoring their first two opponents 109-6.

Ferriday head coach James McFarland said he hoped the week off wouldn&8217;t be too much of a problem for his team.

&8220;We hope (it won&8217;t be a distraction),&8221; McFarland said. &8220;We&8217;ve been working hard and we&8217;re hoping they can keep up the intensity. We hope it doesn&8217;t affect us. Early on it probably will, but we expect to get out of it. We&8217;ll just wait and see how it goes.&8221;

The Trojans will welcome the Metairie Park Country Day School (2-1) Thursday night at 7 p.m.

The game was originally scheduled for Friday night.

McFarland said the Cajuns are a scrappy bunch.

&8220;They&8217;re a split-back veer team,&8221; he said. &8220;We watched them play (last week). They&8217;ve got some scrappy kids. Their quarterback is the athlete. He could play for us. They&8217;ve got good size, but we&8217;ve got a little more team speed so we&8217;ll try to use that to our advantage.&8221;

The veer offense that Country Day runs will be a huge concern for the Trojans.

&8220;Them being a veer team &8212; we don&8217;t play against many of them,&8221; he said. &8220;You&8217;ve got to play assignment football. That kind of really worries me a bit. Everybody&8217;s got to take care of their areas. We&8217;ve got some guys that play with a lot of fury and play all over the field, so we&8217;ve got to make sure we hold that in check for this game.&8221;

McFarland said the best thing Ferriday could do would be to take advantage of its speed advantage.

&8220;I think we&8217;re going to try to utilize the speed game, and try to get around the edge,&8221; he said. &8220;We&8217;re going to play wide-open football and utilize our speed.&8221;

Vidalia vs. Mangham

The Vidalia Vikings (1-2), coming off two tough losses to University Lab and Rayville, will host Mangham for a second-consecutive family affair for head coach Dee Faircloth.

&8220;My nephew is the head coach there, it&8217;s my old home town and I met my wife there,&8221; he said. &8220;It&8217;s another family reunion. Hopefully we can win this one.&8221;

The Dragons (0-3), are reeling after three straight losses to start a season in which they received votes in the Class A LHSAA poll.

&8220;They&8217;ve played Ferriday, Caldwell Parish and Ouchita Christian, who is always tough,&8221; he said. &8220;They&8217;ve really been put through the ringer.&8221;

Faircloth said the Dragon passing game would be the biggest concern.

&8220;They like to throw the ball,&8221; he said. &8220;Even though they lost their quarterback completed 23 passes for about 250 yards last week. Their running back has been hurt. We need to be worried about their passing game because we can&8217;t stop the forward pass. We haven&8217;t been getting any pressure on the quarterback and they&8217;ve just been able to sit back there and pick us apart.&8221;

The Vikings will host Mangham at 7 p.m. Friday.

Block at Bastrop

A bad start to the season may only get worse Friday night when the Block Bears (0-3) travel to face Bastrop High (3-0).

The one-time defending 4A state champions (last year&8217;s state title was stripped earlier this month due to alleged violations in recruiting Katrina evacuees) seem to be even better this year, according to Block head coach Scott Green.

&8220;Their offense looks like a Division 1-AA team,&8221; he said. &8220;Their defense does, too. They run with no tight end, three, four, or even five wide receiver sets. They run the ball well. Defensively, they are the fastest high school defense I have ever seen and that&8217;s just a fact. I saw them in December in the finals, and they are as good and maybe even better now than they were in the finals.

&8220;This is probably the toughest game Block&8217;s ever played, and that&8217;s a no-brainer.&8221;

Green said the Rams had plenty of talent ready for the next level.

&8220;I know they&8217;ve got two guys already committed to LSU and another one committed to Alabama,&8221; he said. &8220;Three more are going to go somewhere, and they have a quarterback that&8217;s a junior that&8217;s going to be able to go wherever he wants to go next year.&8221;

Block will face the Rams at 7 p.m. in Bastrop.