A sign in the Ferriday High School football locker room reads ‘Junkyard Dogs,’ an attitude head coach Dwight Woods wants his defensive line to model.

The second-year coach’s defensive front has natural size, but the “killer instinct” is something he said they’re growing in to.

“We’re trying to get them better at being true pass rushers,” Woods said. “Making the read, their keys and going at it. … One thing we lack is, since they’re all nice guys, they don’t have that mean streak in them.”

Dare Rosenthal, Dantrieze Scott, Javen Scott, Sam Johnson and Zay Davis form a formidable line that has wreaked havoc all season long.

With two rushers well over 6-feet tall, the Ferriday line looks imposing to an offense, but Woods said at the core of his solid front are five teddy bears.
Six-foot-seven Rosenthal said the linemen usually just have to turn their heads to the right for motivation, where defensive end Dantrieze is talking up his teammates.

“It mostly comes from (Scott),” Rosenthal said.

Dantrieze Scott, the most talkative of the group, said he enjoys up the responsibility of firing up his teammates before the play.

“I tell them that stuff they want to hear,” he said. “I like to be honest, I like to get them ready.”

Dantrieze Scott said while he does like to be Ferriday’s drill sergeant on defense, he doesn’t believe a team needs a sole leader. He thinks of the entire unit as one.

“I don’t think you have to tear somebody down to get guys started,” he said. “Everybody should have one in mind.”

Sometimes getting his teammates ready means making them hungry, but not literally. Scott said the team loves to pick out the players in the offensive backfield and fantasize about getting a sack.

“(The quarterback) is a Honeybun” Rosenthal said. “And we eat.”

“The running back is a Twix,” Dantrieze Scott said. “We’ll say, ‘We like the way he looks back there.’”

Rosenthal said most of the linemen have played together since they were 8 years old. With three juniors up front, Ferriday still has a little over a year left with the size and athleticism to dominate Class 2A offensive lines.

Javen Scott, one of the team’s seniors, is new to the game. When he came out for Ferriday’s football team this season, he thought he would try to play quarterback.
Instead, he found his home in the junkyard.

“I love it,” Javen said. “I like it better on defense.”

Woods said he has previously coached highly-touted prospects, and each team handles the attention its own way.

Woods’ current crop of Division I prospects, however, have remained humble throughout the recruiting process, he said, and he can count on the rest of the team to police any inflated egos.

“These guys generate a lot of attention everywhere they go,” Woods said. “Their heads are level. They get used to it and most of the time they laugh about it. They’re small-town kids, so it doesn’t go to their heads.”

“I’ll take these boys anywhere,” Dantrieze said. “I love my defense.”