VIDALIA — The Vidalia Jamboree featured a lot of penalties and punts, but the defensive strides made by Vidalia, Block and Ferriday high schools proved to be the key to success Saturday.

Of the three games played at Dee Faircloth Viking Saturday, there were only three scoring plays, and only one was made on offense.

Block High School 2,

Vidalia High School 0

The Vikings hosted Block first in a 15-minute quarter that saw a lot of back-and-forth punting.

Vidalia played its jamboree without starting quarterback and running back Jontarrius Townsend, who was suspended from school for an unspecified reason.

The Bears took the initiative on defense with a punt fumble recovery on the Vikings’ 34-yard line at the 10:06 mark but couldn’t capitalize on the play.

As the Vikings started from their own 5-yard line, it was bad positioning against a sound Block defense as Aaron Bell sacked Viking quarterback Stewart Mallory for the safety at the 3:40 mark.

The game ended with a 2-0 Block victory.

Block High School 0,

Ferriday High School 0

Block continued its sound defense in game 2 against the Ferriday Trojans.

But the Bears met their match defensively in a tough game against the Ferriday Trojans that didn’t allow the Bears to see an offensive spark.

Ferriday’s Jaylin Neal made an interception at the seven-minute mark, and both teams failed to see the end zone.

Block head coach Benny Vault Jr., said he was not pleased with his team’s performance.

“It was horrible,” Vault said. “I didn’t see anything good. It wasn’t Block Bear football.”

The biggest thing Vault said his team must work on before their season opener against Ouachita Christian is communication and execution.

“We have to work on disorganization and being aggressive,” he said. “We have new kids, and we have to make sure we get our identity together.”

Ferriday High School 14,

Vidalia High School 0

Ferriday finally got an offensive spark out of Dontrell Domino who just returned from an ACL injury.

On the first play of Game 3, Domino rushed for a 49-yard touchdown to give the Trojans an early 6-0 lead. The extra point kick was no good.

Ferriday head coach Cleothis Cummings said he was proud of the way Domino performed in his first game back.

“Domino is a hard worker, and he got out there and executed as best as he good,” Cumming said. “He’s just going to continue to get better, and we have to strengthen offensive line to help him out.

Ferriday got as close as the Vikings’ 9-yard line at the 2:53 mark, but back-to-back recovered fumbles made for missed opportunities as the Vikings took over at the 5-yard line.

Vidalia’s Mallory fell under pressure in the end zone after being rushed by three Trojan uniforms, and what was intended to be a throwaway pass, ended up being an interception for Derrionte Jefferson.

The Trojans went for the two-point conversion, which was successful on a pass from Ronald Williams to Keiwuan Miles as the Trojans ended the game 14-0.

Vidalia head coach Gary Parnham Jr., said he was pleased with the effort his team showed Saturday.

“I thought we did better than I expected,” Parnham said. “We came out and played hard in the first quarter against Block.”

Parnham said the only negatives he saw with his team was their stamina.

“Conditioning is the negative thing right now,” he said. “We’re not in as good of shape to play four quarters of football.”

Cummings said he was more disappointed in the amount of unsportsman-like conduct penalties called than anything.

“It’s a pet peeve for me,” he said. “We don’t coach them that way.”

Cummings said that after Saturday, he knows exactly what next week’s practices will focus on.

“We have to make sure we execute on the simplest things,” he said. “We had a lot of dropped passes, a lot of bad routes ran and missed block assignments. Our linebackers weren’t flowing like they need to be.”

The Trojans return to action in their season opener as they host Natchez High School and the Vikings will host Delhi at 7 p.m. Friday.