Trojans hit road for first round

Published 12:01 am Thursday, November 13, 2014

The Ferriday Trojans aren’t sitting around complaining about hitting the road for the opening round of the playoffs Friday.

Inheriting the No. 17 seed in the 32-team playoff bracket, had (6-4) Ferriday coming up one seed short of hosting (5-5) Lake Arthur Friday. Instead, Ferriday will travel to play Lake Arthur, and Ferriday head coach Cleothis Cummings said his team hasn’t wasted energy stressing over it.

“We have to play the hand we’re dealt,” Cummings said. “Hopefully, we play the right cards.”

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The “right cards” for the Trojans have been Shannon Morales and Dontrell Domino this season, as the two have shared the backfield and carried the load offensively. According to Max Preps, Morales has thrown for 640 yards and seven touchdowns, while adding 471 yards and six rushing touchdowns to the total. Meanwhile, Domino has totaled 1,711 rushing yards on 190 carries and has produced 19 total touchdowns. Cummings is expecting Lake Arthur to try and make the Trojans pass Friday night.

“They will give us a 4-3 look with a rover, and they’ll bring the safety in the box to give us an extra guy to add to the blocking scheme,” Cummings said.

Morales enters the game after “aggravating” his groin against General Trass last Friday. Cummings expects Morales to be ready to play Friday, after nursing up the injury this past week. “Shannon is good,” Cummings said. “It’s just an aggrevation in his groin, but he’s rested up and treated it.”

Defensively, the Trojans will be tasked of stopping running backs Trey Hargrave and Mike Ware, who have accounted for 90 percent of Lake Arthur’s offense this season.

“(Hargrave) runs it downhill, while (Ware) likes to bounce it outside,” Cummings said. “Pretty much every possession, they’re going to run it. If we can stop the run, we’ll have a good chance of winning.”

Ferriday will play at Lake Arthur at 7 p.m. Friday, and if the Trojans win, they’ll face the winner of No. 1 Many and No. 32 Homer the following week.