VIDALIA — Campers gathered around a station at the first Miss-Lou Football Academy Camp, learning a defensive line drill from Ferriday head coach Dwight Woods Wednesday morning.

“Alright, anybody ever watch the rodeo?” Woods asked. “They’ll try to catch the steer by his horns and flip it. It’s the same as when an offensive lineman grabs you.”

Borrowing something he learned from LSU defensive line guru Pete Jenkins, Woods used the rodeo analogy to illustrate the purpose of an awkward technique drill used to help defensive lineman shed blockers. Woods instructed a group of Ferriday High School, Vidalia High School and Cathedral High School campers, as Woods joined Vidalia coach Jeff Hancock and Cathedral coach Ron Rushing at the event.

Rushing, who bounced offensive ideas off of Hancock last football season, said he was happy to assist in the first Miss-Lou football camp.

“Coach Hancock helped me last year,” Rushing said. “I would call him and ask him questions, and anything I could do to help him out, I wanted to do. Hopefully next year I can get my kids involved more, and we can help this get bigger every year.”

At the end of the day, Hancock said joining other coaches and sharing their knowledge with local youth is what it’s all about.

“It’s fun to interact with the coaches that you just read about in the paper on Saturday’s,” Hancock said. “We’ve got some good coaches in this area, and if you’re coaching for the right reasons, you’re going to want to help kids.”

And while Ferriday and Vidalia have a storied rivalry against each other, both coaches see no reason why they can’t exchange pleasantries in the offseason.

“I’ve enjoyed this camp because you get to get together and not only improve football in the area, but camaraderie,” Woods said. “It’s good to have rivalries, but they need to be friendly rivalries.”

Hancock organized the three-day camp, which was held at the Concordia Recreation District 3 Complex, and he had Cathedral coach Kurt Russ, Ferriday coach Walter Johnson and former high school coach out of Michigan Reinard Davis in attendance. Davis coached former New York Jet Bart Scott in high school, and Scott paid for the t-shirts that were handed out to campers.

“I’m very happy because the first year you never know,” Hancock said. “Everything always starts off slow. We had 42 with us at the camp.”

The final day of the camp will take place today at 9 a.m.