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FERRIDAY — The LHSAA District 2-2A championship will be at stake Friday night when the top-ranked and defending state champion Ferriday High School Trojans play host to the ninth-ranked Mangham High School Dragons at Melz Field.

Kickoff between Mangham (5-0, 3-0) and Ferriday (5-0, 4-0) is set for 7 p.m.

“This is a huge game. This is for the championship. This is a big-time game for us,” Trojans head coach Stanley Smith said.

Ferriday is coming off a 70-0 win last Friday night on the road over rival Vidalia High School to extend its winning streak to 19 games in a row. Mangham defeated General Trass High School 55-32 last Friday night. The Dragons have scored at least 40 points in each of their first five game while the Trojans, in their first five games, have allowed just 6.4 points a game and have pitched three shutouts, including two in a row in as many weeks.

“They’re an athletic team. They run the ball really well. Their quarterback is the captain of their ship. He throws the ball well. They put up a lot of points. So we’ll have to come prepared Friday night,” Smith said. “This will be the toughest team we’ve faced so far.”

As for what the Trojans will be working on in practice this week to get ready for Mangham, Smith said, “Just working on execution. Eliminating the penalties. Just playing with a sense of urgency. Just working on the game plan – offense, defense and special teams.”

Smith said one of the keys to victory will be playing four quarters.

“Playing with a sense of urgency. Playing with a great focus on Friday night,” Smith said.

Smith said that senior running back Daminiya Milligan, senior quarterback/defensive back Jyron Milligan, senior linebacker/running back Kobe Johnson, senior defensive end/tight end Kobe Johnson, and senior tight end/defensive end are standouts who will need to have a big game for Ferriday to emerge victorious and as district champions once again.

Even after shutting out Vidalia last week, Smith said his team needs to be more physical as the season goes on.

“I still think we need to be better at the point of attack. I’m still looking for a little more physicality,” Smith said. “Teams are going to run more on us. It’s going to be a physical game this week.”

This will also be the final district game of the season for the Trojans as Smith said that its game that was scheduled for Friday, Nov. 13 at Delhi Charter School has been canceled because three players on the Gators’ team tested positive for COVID-19 earlier.

“They had to quarantine for 14 days starting this (past) Saturday,” Smith said. Which means that Delhi Charter had to cancel this week’s game at General Trass High School as well as next week’s home game against the Trojans, but they will not count as forfeit wins for either team, Smith noted.

Smith said he is trying to find another opponent to play next week. If not, Ferriday won’t play again until Friday, Nov. 20 at Richwood High School.