Vidalia’s losing streak continues
Published 10:50 pm Friday, October 6, 2023
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VIDALIA — The Vidalia High School Vikings were looking to snap a two-game losing streak and many thought playing a one-win Mangham High School team at Dee Faircloth Viking Stadium would be just the cure.
Unfortunately, that would not be the case as Mangham jumped out to an early lead and never let up as the Dragons stunned the Vikings 53-14 last Friday night in what turned out to be a key LHSAA District 2-2A game for both teams.
“We started off the game pretty well. But they controlled the line of scrimmage. We forced a couple of turnovers in the first half, but we couldn’t capitalize on them,” Vidalia head coach Joshua West said. “Injuries really hurt us. And we were already banged up. Penalties got us behind the sticks.”
In addition to having to deal with all of that, Vidalia’s defense could not slow down Mangham’s running game. But that wasn’t the only thing that hurt the Vikings on this Friday night. The win propelled the Dragons to 2-4 overall and 2-1 in district play.
“They ran the ball pretty well. They have a good running back. We tried to tackle him. Mental mistakes — false starts, offsides — kept hurting any momentum,” West said.
Because the game was so out of reach, West said he put in some of his younger players to give them some valuable playing time and experience. He added that his team will get better from this loss and that his team had a couple of big plays.
“Marc Perkins scored on a 60-yard touchdown catch. ‘Juice’ (Elmari Lewis) had a few nice runs for us. I think he had over 100 yards rushing,” West Said.
Vidalia (3-3, 0-2) next plays at Rayville High School at 7 p.m. Friday.