Mangham — After losing a heartbreaker to Sterlington at home, the Ferriday Trojans turned up the heat on the road against Mangham.

With a 38-26 win against the higher-ranked district foe, the (5-4) Trojans improved to 2-2 in district play and earned critical power points with only one week remaining.

Ferriday head coach Dwight Woods said his team accomplished that by scoring early and scoring often.

Malik Hampton recorded the first score of the game with a 42-yard run followed by a Ja’Shon Foster catch on the two-point conversion. Ferriday extended its lead when Dantrieze Scott made a one-handed reception on a 30-yard touchdown.

“We’ve been on them all week about coming out in the first half with uptempo and getting after it,” Woods said. “They did an excellent job doing that. I have to give the kids and assistant coaches credit for that.”

The Trojans extended their lead to 24-6 in the second quarter after Ronald Williams scored on a quarterback sneak. With five seconds remaining in the half, Williams found Foster on a 12-yard touchdown to give Ferriday a 32-6 lead going into the half.

“That score right before the half was big,” Woods said. “Ronald played well tonight. His timing was a lot better than it was last week. He made some big runs early, and I think that got his confidence up.”

While Ferriday’s offense jumped all over Mangham, the Dragons offense struggled against Ferriday’s front seven. Woods said the entire defensive line played great in the win and singled out Scott’s performance at defensive end in the victory.

“They struggled blocking our front, and we did a good job of playing the trap,” Woods said. “The front seven came to play today, and the secondary did a pretty good job too. We had a breakdown late in the game on a long touchdown, but overall, we played well.”

Following the win, Ferriday will host district leader and No. 4 Ouachita Christian School (according to the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Poll) Friday at Melz Field.

“This is the first time our kids realized that they can play at that level with these big district opponents,” Woods said. “It’s major for power points, and we’ve got another big one this Friday.”