Ferriday’s Lawrence Washington caught a 65 yard bomb with 26 seconds remaining as the Trojans went on to thwart a furious Jefferson County rally by the score of 28-22.

Trojan coach James McFarland knew he had his work cut out for him.

&uot;They’re big and fast and probably quicker than Peabody. We just need to take what they give us and take it from there,&uot; said the first-year head coach.

Last week, Ferriday was blitzed by Peabody 42-14. On Friday night, Tiger coach Johnny Dunbar had other concerns.

&uot;We need to contain the passing game and if we do that we will be all right,&uot; McFarland said.

As the game unfolded that would be the turning point of the contest. Dunbar also was forced to start a freshman quarterback in place of injured Londell Eanochs.

Early on the hosts came out strong with a nine play 65 yard drive capped off by a Washington 10 yard scoring catch from the arm of Aron Thomas. A quarterback keeper added the two-point conversion for a 8-0 Ferriday advantage with 9:37 left in the opening quarter.

As the teams traded early mistakes, Tiger back Kelvin Clark sprinted 30 yards to even the ledger at the 4:52 mark.

Ferriday continued to pick on the Tiger secondary all night long as Cedric Jefferson would help the hosts regain the lead with a 25-yard reception to paydirt.

Another Jefferson County fumble lead to more Ferriday offense as a Washington 35 yard catch set up a Thomas one-yard blast for a 22-8 lead with 10:57 left in the second quarter. However just as the home crowd was thinking rout, Tiger defensive end Kendrick January returned a Trojan fumble to the Ferriday five-yard line.

On fourth down a Tiger pass was picked off stopping the drive. Again with under two minutes left in the half the Tigers were driving, only to fumble on the Ferriday goaline. The Trojans had dodged another bullet going into the lockeroom.

The second half began with both defenses dictating the action.

The Tigers then took advantage of the favorable field position and mounted a scoring drive finished by a Javar Dunbar 35-yard run.

The momentum began to swing to the visitors. As the fourth quarter began, Jefferson County would strike again with a big play from special teamer Jaricos Bennett.

His 65-yard scoring return added with the Dunbar two-point slash equaled a tie score and the promise of a fantastic finish.

Both teams down the stretch played not to make a big mistake as the Tigers punted all the way down to the Trojan five-yard line with less than two minutes remaining.

But the senior leadership of Trojan quarterback Aron Thomas quickly lead Ferriday to their 35-yard line with 40 seconds remaining setting up Washington’s heroics and a huge victory for the hosts.