VIDALIA — Both Vidalia and Ferriday got a chance to evaluate their teams just a week ahead of the start of high school football in Louisiana in a jamboree Saturday at Viking Stadium.

Each team played two 12-minute quarters, one coming against Tensas and the other against each other.

Vidalia fell in both quarters, while Ferriday stood strong with two wins.

 

Tensas 24, Vidalia 8

Despite forcing a turnover on the first drive of the contest, the Vikings struggled defensively against a double-wing attack from Tensas.

“I don’t know if we were feeling good about our scrimmage the week before, or if these guys were a little quicker than the guys we faced last week, but we had to get adjusted and we didn’t get it done,” Vidalia head coach Jeff Hancock said.

Tensas got on the board first on a two-yard touchdown run with just under five minutes coming off the clock.

The Panthers struck again on their next drive with the first of two long touchdown passes, this one from 61 yards out, to push the lead to 16-0.

“We had no idea what they were going to run offensively and defensively, and that was the first time I’ve had to do that,” Hancock said.

Tensas’ lead increased on their next drive with a 59-yard touchdown toss to make the score 24-0.

Vidalia’s lone score came on the ensuing drive after Tristan Weatherly led the team down the field and Julian Wilson found the end zone from two yards out to make the score 24-8.

Hancock played both Viking quarterbacks, Weatherly and Jordan Mays in both contests.

In the first game, Weatherly held the advantage going 7-of-9 for 64 yards.

“He’s getting there,” said Hancock of Weatherly. “He is a ninth grader that has big guys trying to take his head off, but he is learning on the fly. I told him and a lot of other freshmen, they don’t have time to be freshmen. They have to step up and compete.”

Mays finished 1-of-8 for eight yards and also had two interceptions.

 

Ferriday 14, Tensas 0

Ferriday had their way with Tensas in their first quarter of action in the jamboree.

The Trojans pummeled the Panthers on the ground, racking up 113 yards, 84 of which came from Ronald Davis.

“We knew we could pretty much do what we wanted to do,” Ferriday head coach Dwight Woods said. “We had been working on a lot of things. We were able to run the ball well, and anytime you can run the ball, it opens up everything else you are trying to do. Ideally, we can run the ball like that every time.”

But the passing game was present as well, with quarterback Ronald Williams completing two of his three passes for 77 yards and a touchdown.

The touchdown, a 50-yard pass to J’Shon Foster, came on the first drive of the contest for Ferriday.

The Trojans’ second score, on their next drive, was courtesy of a two-yard run from Williams.

Defensively, the Trojans were lights out, holding Tensas to just 19 total yards.

“Pitching a shutout is always great, but we still made a few mistakes,” Woods said. “We’ve got young kids in the secondary and so we are going to have mistakes, but with the front we have, it is going to be tough for anybody to sit back there and throw.”

 

Ferriday 8, Vidalia 0

The neighboring rivals locked up in a defensive battle, with Ferriday getting the edge on a 75-yard touchdown run from Malik Hampton.

Both defenses shined, with the Vikings allowing just 141 total yards and the Trojans holding Vidalia to -24 total yards.

“I was extremely proud of how we stepped up against Ferriday,” Hancock said. “Especially after having not played so good in the first quarter, to come back against Ferriday and do that is great. I think our kids have to understand you have to come ready to play everybody. It doesn’t matter who they are. I don’t know if they were just looking forward to Ferriday or if we started slow, but we are getting there.”

For Vidalia, Weatherly completed two of his four passes for no yards, and Mays finished with no completions in five attempts. Hancock said, though, he will have a starting quarterback for Week 1.

On the opposite sideline, Williams struggled, finishing with just three completions in 14 attempts, but he did have 46 yards.

“We got a little tired and started to stink it up,” Woods said. “We had guys open, we just couldn’t hit them. We held the ball too long on a few throws when we were supposed to make quick reads. Our guys were wide open, we just didn’t hit them.”

Hampton shined for the Trojans with 95 rushing yards on four carries. Davis added 18 yards on four carries.