FERRIDAY — After being held in check in the first half, Da’minya Milligan had three rushing touchdowns in the second half as the Ferriday High School Trojans pulled away for a 51-14 win over the Mangham High School Dragons on Friday night in an LHSAA District 2-2A game.

After being up just 12-7 at halftime, Ferriday exploded for 32 points in the third quarter with Milligan and Kobe Dillon combining for all four touchdowns.

And while he was pleased with the way his team played in the second half, Trojans head coach Stanley Smith said he was not at all thrilled with its surprisingly lackluster performance in the first half.

“We started out kind of slow. A win is a win, but I’m not happy with how we played in the first half,” Smith said. “They had the ball the

whole second quarter and they scored at the end of the quarter. We have to start faster. We’ve got to be focused for four quarters and we’ve got to be physical.”

The Trojans, the No. 2 team in the LHSAA Class 2A power ratings, scored two touchdowns within the first nine minutes of the game to go up 12-0, but the Dragons were indeed the more physical team for much of the rest of the first half and that allowed them to stay in the game.

That was until the third quarter. Milligan scored on a 34-yard run and Dillon threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Elijah White to give

Ferriday a 28-7 lead. Mangham (2-6, 1-4) made it 28-14 with approximately 5 minutes to go in the quarter, but that would be the closest the Dragons would get the rest of the game.

Milligan scored on a 43-yard run and Dillon scored on a 77-yard run to give the Trojans a commanding 44-14 advantage. Milligan’s third and final touchdown of the game came on a 35-yard run early in the fourth quarter.

“We ran the ball for over 350 yards. We didn’t pass the ball much. I think we had just over 100 yards passing,” Smith said. 

Ferriday (5-3, 4-0) travels to Delhi, La. to take on Delhi Charter School in a pivotal district match-up Friday at 7 p.m.