Coach James McFarland and his Ferriday football team are hoping to change the tradition of the past two years against Northeast.

&uot;They have beaten us the past two years at home and away,&uot; McFarland said. &uot;We hope to change that tonight. It is about time.

The contest will be of two teams that play similar offense and defense. Both play the Slot-I offense and the 4-3 defense.

Each team will have a familiarity with the opposing offense and defense since they practice against it every week.

Even with the familiarity, the Northeast offense does pose problems for Ferriday. The primary concern is containment.

&uot;Their speed will present the most problems,&uot; McFarland said. &uot;If we don’t contain their running backs, we will have problems.&uot;

McFarland plans on playing his regular defense but give special attention to the outside run. He will require the secondary to commit to run support too.

Ferriday will be without the services of two starter Robert Taylor and Marion Harbor will sit out the game with knee injuries.

McFarland sees the Northeast game as a good way to measure his team. &uot;Northeast is a good football team with good size and speed,&uot; McFarland said. &uot;This is playoff team. I’m interested to see how we match up.&uot;

Tonight’s game is a non-district game and both schools have 1-1 records.

&uot;We could meet them in the playoffs later this year,&uot; McFarland said. We need to play good against them.&uot;