JACKSON, La. — For the second straight season, the Ferriday High School Trojans have advanced to the quarterfinals of the LHSAA Class 2A State Playoffs.

But it wasn’t as easy as perhaps Ferriday would have liked. No. 18 seed East Feliciana gave No. 2 seed Ferriday all it could handle for three-plus quarters before the Trojans pulled away late for a 46-28 win over the Tigers in a second-round game Friday night.

For one of the few times this season, the Trojans were held scoreless in the first quarter. The Tigers didn’t score in that quarter, either. East Feliciana went up 8-0 in the second quarter before Ferriday (10-2) got on the scoreboard later on in the quarter and went into halftime down 8-6.

“We came out and put the ball on the ground a couple of times. It wasn’t anything they were doing. We just weren’t executing,” Trojans coach Stanley Smith said.

Ferriday got off to a hot start in the third quarter with two touchdowns and two 2-point conversions to take a 22-8 lead. But East Feliciana (6-5) would not back down as the Tigers scored near the end of the quarter to make it a one-possession game at 22-14.

“It was either win or go home. They had a sense of urgency. They played hard. They played with a purpose,” Smith said.

Smith added that while the defense forced two fumbles that the Trojans recovered, they have to tackle better.

The Trojans were only up 30-22 in the early stages of the fourth quarter before they put the game away with a pair of touchdowns, each of them followed by a two 2-point conversion.

“We had a couple of big runs that sealed it for us. (Quarterback) Kobe Dillon played pretty good. He was put a tough position early in the game. But he made some big plays for us. He grew up a little bit tonight,” Smith said.

Ferriday will host No. 10 seed Red River at 7 p.m. next Friday. Red River defeated No. 7 seed Rosepine on the road 38-24.

“We expect a big crowd (at Melz Field) next week. This will be the first quarterfinal home game since 2000,” Smith said.