Public schools: Ferriday falls to No. 6 Northeast; Jena makes comeback to beat Block

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, September 30, 2003

FERRIDAY, La. &045; The Northeast Vikings, ranked No. 6 in Class 2A, were too much for the struggling Trojans to handle as they jumped out to a 22-0 lead and rolled to an easy road win Friday night.

&uot;We’re not doing anything well,&uot; Ferriday head coach James McFarland said. &uot;We’re not playing well.&uot;

Ferriday’s only points were a 45-yard pass from Edward Harris to Chris Sheppard in the second quarter and a 50-yard pass from Scotty Cage to Terrance Hawkins in the fourth quarter.

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&uot;Northeast, we knew they were a good football team, ranked No. 6,&uot; McFarland said. &uot;We just couldn’t stop them. We haven’t been able to stop anyone lately. Hopefully, we’ll get better. We don’t have the talent.&uot;

Jena 36, Block 32

JENA, La. &045; Jena’s furious comeback in the second half just gutted the Block Bears and head coach Chad Harkins.

The Bears held an 18-7 halftime lead and scored in the third quarter to take a 25-7 lead, but the Giants pounded away offensively and took a 36-32 win over the Bears in action Friday night.

&uot;They ran right through our defense like water,&uot; Harkins said. &uot;My linebackers stood still, and my defensive linemen were getting blown off the ball. They were not playing hard. I don’t understand. You can’t fix that. If your kids don’t play hard, you can’t win. I guess they thought they were going to win.&uot;

The Giants kept it on the ground &045; runs up the middle and sweeps to the outside &045; and stormed back to take a 29-25 lead. The Bears then got a score to take a 32-25 lead, but the Giants fielded the kickoff and drove down field to set up a score to take the 36-32 lead with less than two minutes left in the contest.

The Bears had a drive left and got to the Jena 40 before the Giants picked off a Demetrius Bowie pass to end the game.

&uot;We probably had 500 yards total offense,&uot; Harkins said. &uot;You don’t do that and lose. We probably threw the ball 25 times tonight, and I’ve never done that. Demetrius played well. He ran the offense well and threw the ball well. We played well enough to win. After we went up 25-6, we shut it down.&uot;

Amite County 34,

Jefferson County 20

LIBERTY &045; In what turned out to a key Region 4-1A opener for both teams, the Trojans scored the last 20 points of the game to erase a 20-14 deficit and to give the Tigers their first loss of the season.

Amite County (1-2, 1-0) got a huge all-around performance from Marcus Crockett, who accounted for 352 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns. Crockett had 226 return yards on just four returns, including an 80-yard kickoff return just seconds after Jefferson County (3-1, 0-1) had taken a 14-6 lead in the second quarter. He also had 101 yards rushing on 11 carries and scored on runs of 19 and 6 yards and caught one pass for 25 yards.

&uot;Definitely a big win,&uot; Amite County head coach Elbert &uot;Mo&uot; Lyles said. &uot;Jefferson County’s a good ball club. I found that out. The lead changed hands until the end.&uot;

The end for the Tigers was the fourth quarter. In addition to Crockett’s 6-yard scoring run, Trojan quarterback Terry Boss scored on a 4-yard run and, with under two minutes to go, connected with Johnny Robinson on a 29-yard touchdown pass to put the game away.

&uot;I was very proud of the defense,&uot; Lyles said. &uot;That gave our offense a chance to score.&uot;

After Crockett’s first TD run, Jefferson County answered with a 2-yard run by Avery Hammett and a 12-yard run by Earnest Havard. Tigers quarterback Chris Carradine, who had one touchdown pass, threw an 8-yarder to Anthony Williams in the third quarter and connected with Anthony Chambliss on the two-point conversion after Havard scored.

Franklin County 26, Wesson 7

MEADVILLE &045; Thanks to 230 all-purpose yards from Jasper O’Quinn, including 127 yards rushing on 18 carries and an 82-yard punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter, the Bulldogs (2-2) ended their two-game losing streak.

&uot;We played better than we have been for the whole ball game,&uot; Franklin County head coach Anthony Hart said. &uot;We did a good job on defense. Held them to 93 yards. Offensively, we had some good drives.&uot;