Ferriday — District play is starting to heat up in Louisiana this week, but two local teams are coming into district play on cold streaks, while a third is limping into its last non-district game of the year.

Ferriday High School is coming into its first district game with two-consecutive losses, while Vidalia High School starts its district slate at 0-5. Block is also on a two-game slide as it travels to face another 3A opponent Friday.

The Trojans recent struggles stem from youth and inexperience, head coach Richard Oliver said.

“I think we played hard the last two games, we just haven’t played well,” he said. “We just have a young ball club. We only have six or seven seniors, and we’re starting a lot of freshmen and sophomores. They play hard, but they make a lot of mistakes that we shouldn’t make.”

Ferriday hosts Jonesboro-Hodge this week, and Oliver said focusing on the basics would make the difference.

“They run the ball pretty good, and their quarterback has a pretty good three-step drop passing game,” he said.

“We have to do the little things. We had our chances to win (the last two weeks). We just have to find a way to do the little things right to win football games.”

Oliver said the team that makes fewer mistakes and wins the turnover battle would likely win the game. He also said his team needs to improve its punting game this week.

“For the last two weeks our punt team has put us in bad situations,” he said. “We’re not good enough to spot people good field position, and we did that with our punt team the last two weeks.”

Oliver said a 1-0 start in District 2-2A would be huge for his team.

“It would mean a lot,” he said. “It would give us a little momentum going into the next game, and hopefully we can win the rest and get in the playoffs.”

Jonesboro-Hodge (1-4, 0-0) will travel to Ferriday (2-3, 0-0), with kickoff set for 7 p.m.

VIDALIA

vidalia — Vidalia is looking to find a spark this week going into its first District 3-3A game of the season on the road against Jena High School Friday.

The Vikings first five opponents handed them five big losses, the closest being a 28-0 loss to Bolton.

Vidalia head coach Gary Parnham said his team continues to work but is having trouble translating practice into the games.

“We’re not making a whole lot of progress,” he said. “We are doing our best, and we keep working and keep working. But you have to take the hard work you put in practice into the game.”

Parnham said Jena runs a double wing offense that has been perfected by head coach Chad Harkins.

“They run the double wing, and they run it well,” Parnham said. “Their coach is the master of the double wing, and it’s just like every other game, we are going to have to play physical.”

Vidalia (0-5, 0-0) will look for its first win of the season starting a 7 p.m. Friday in Jena (2-3, 0-0).

BLOCK

Jonesville — Like Ferriday, Block comes into Friday’s game on a two-game skid, including a 56-0 loss to Donaldsonville (3A) last week. But, the Bears have one more week of preparation against another 3A team before they start District 4-1A play Oct. 14 at LaSalle

The Bears will travel to Bossier City, La., Friday to face Bossier, and head coach Benny Vault Jr. said his team has lacked physicality in its last two losses.

“We haven’t been playing rough and tough, and that’s my philosophy,” he said. “I want to get back to that brand of football.”

Vault said his focus during the non-district schedule is to get his team prepared for district games.

“We have a habit of playing up,” he said. “That’s how I schedule because of the power point system.”

Part of Vault’s preparation for district play is also experimenting with his lineup in non-district games, he said.

“We are still shuffling people around on the offensive line and trying to find the right fit,” he said. “On defense it gives us the opportunity to find more people that can play different positions.

“We want to get the right combination of offensive lineman and get (used) to it, so we can feel good about district play.”

Vault said he hopes his team can pull out a big victory over the 3A opponent, but his main focus is getting better and staying healthy.

“I look forward to us just having a good trip and getting focused and ready to play,” he said. “If we do that I think the outcome will be favorable for us. We’re just going to try to keep getting better each week as a team.”

Block (2-3, 0-0) will kick off at Bossier (4-1) at 7 p.m. Friday.