VIDALIA — Fresh off its first win of the season, Vidalia High School is hoping to continue to have success as the Vikings get deep into their district schedule.

On Friday, Vidalia will travel to Bolton High School in Alexandria, La. Although Bolton is just 1-5 on the season, its one win was against LHSAA District 3-3A opponent Buckeye, which beat Vidalia 44-20 Sept. 30.

“They’ve a good team. Their quarterback was out last week, and they’re a different team with him,” Vikings head coach Gary Parnham Jr. said.

“He runs and throws well, so it’s a double threat for us. Our defensive ends will have to have a big game and keep him in the pocket, and our defensive backs will have to step up.”

Vidalia (1-5, 0-2) will have to pick up where it left off last week it wants to come out on top, Parnham said.

“Do we have a chance to beat them? Yeah, if we play four quarters of football like we did Friday. I look for it to be a close game,” Parnham said.

Parnham also said maintaining a good pass rush will go a long way in helping his defensive backs make plays against the Bolton passing attack.

“We have to keep him contained. If we can pressure him and make him force his throws or tuck it and run it, that will be a big key for us,” he said.

“We have to make sure we get pressure on him.”

In the Vikings 27-7 win against Pearl River last Friday, Parnham said he saw both his offense and defense step up, especially his defense.

“Defensively, we really played well. Offensively, we started to execute better,” Parnham said.

“We’re still not there (on offense), but if we can get a defensive performance like last Friday and our offense can continue to improve, we should have a good game.”

And Parnham said he had a inkling that his team would be ready to play during practice last week.

“When you start out 0-5, the team can go two ways. It can either fold up or step up, and I could tell last week that the kids were just tired of losing,” Parnham said.

“I could see more effort and attention to detail in practice, and I had a good feeling.”

But now is no time to let up, Parnham warned.

“These next four games are not going to be easy football games, and I think the kids realize that. These district games are always tough,” he said.

Kickoff at Bolton is at 7 p.m. Friday.