JONESVILLE, La. — Last year, Block went into the Class 1A playoffs as the No. 24 seed and lost in the bi-district round. The Bears know what their opponent, Desire Street Academy, is going through.

That’s because the Lions went into their playoff game Friday night at Block as the No. 24 seed against the ninth-seeded Bears and their potent running attack. But the Bears had a surprise in store for the Lions.

In addition to his two touchdown runs, Block quarterback Curdarius Johnson threw for 120 yards and two touchdowns on 6-of-8 passing as the Bears held on to defeat Desire Street Academy 26-20.

“It was real sloppy over here. Defensively, we pretty much shut them down. Special teams kept them in the game,” Block head coach Benny Vault Jr. said. “Overall, we played pretty good.”

Desire Street Academy (4-5) returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, but the extra point was no good and the Lions had a quick 6-0 lead. That lead wouldn’t last very long. Block (7-3) scored on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to VaShawn Davis. Chris Collins made the extra point for a 7-6 Bears lead.

The Lions took advantage of a fake punt and scored on a 55-yard run and added the two-point conversion for a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter. But the Bears responded as Johnson scored on a 2-yard run with 2:58 to go until halftime. The conversion was good and the home team tied the score at 14-14.

Johnson added a nine-yard touchdown run with 56 left in the first half to give the Bears a 20-14 halftime lead.

“Curdarius did a good job running the ball. He threw a couple of passes over 20 yards and had a run for over 20 yards,” Vault said. “He threw a touchdown pass on a big fourth down play. He did a good job running the offense.”

Johnson threw his second touchdown pass of the game nearly midway through the fourth quarter, a 23-yarder to Tevin O’Steen for a 26-14 lead. Desire Street Academy scored with 4:20 left on a 26-yard pass to make it a 26-20 game, but the Bears were able to run out the clock.

John Bloodsaw led Block’s running game with 18 carries for 85 yards and Collins added 61 yards on 13 carries.

“It should’ve been a lopsided game. In the end they threw the ball a little bit. Field conditions were rough, so we kept the ball on the ground,” Vault said.

Block will take on No. 25 seed Cedar Creek in Ruston, La. next Friday at 7 p.m. in the regional round. Cedar Creek advanced with an upset win over No. 8 seed St. Edmund.

John Curtis 54, Ferriday 6

RIVER RIDGE, La. — Despite winning just one game in District 2-2A, Ferriday somehow managed to sneak into the LHSAA Class 2A playoffs as the No. 32 seed.

For their efforts and winning two of their last three games, the Trojans had to hit the road to take on No. 1 seed and longtime powerhouse John Curtis in the bi-district round.

It wasn’t pretty as the Patriots defeated the Trojans to improve to 10-1 and advance to the regional round against No. 17 seed South Beauregard. Ferriday finished at 5-6.

“Like deer in the headlights, playing the number one team in the state,” Ferriday head coach Freddie Harrison said. “Had a punt blocked and an interception returned for a touchdown. It’s like we’ve never been there before. We learned our lesson tonight. If we wanna win, we’ve gotta play successful teams. Gotta play the big dogs.”

Harrison added that his team learned a lot from having the opportunity to take on one the state’s football powerhouses in John Curtis.

“They prayed on every mistake we made and capitalized on them,” Harrison said.