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TALLULAH, La. — Not even a good week of practice could help the No. 29 seed Ferriday High School Trojans as they lost to a familiar foe in the No. 4 seed and District 2-2A rival Madison Parish High School Jaguars 66-42 last Friday night in the Bi-District Round of the 2022 LHSAA Class 2A Playoffs.

Corey Moore led Madison Parish (26-2) with a game-high 16 points and Jeremiah Marshall added 13 points. The Jaguars had a balanced scoring attack as Tayshaun Dykes chipped in with nine points while Nehemiah Jackson and Ahmad Moore contributed with eight points each.

“Their big guys scored 17 points. They manhandled us on the inside,” Ferriday head coach Shawn Davis said. “I’m still at a loss for words. I’ve never seen us get manhandled like that. Their scoring usually comes from their guards.”

Perhaps the atmosphere was also a key in the outcome of the game – not just during the game, but even before the opening tip-off.

“We had our best week of practice last week. We were ready for this game. But once we got there, the crowd was real big. It was a big crown,” Davis said. “They cut the lights out when they did the line-ups. That just kind of spooked us. The stadium was a little too big for us.”

Ferriday did its best to stay with Madison Parish in the first quarter, but the Trojans trailed the Jaguars 12-6 by the end of that quarter.

“We missed a lot of shots in the first quarter that we’ve made the last four or five games. In the second quarter, we could never regroup at all. That’s where it got away from us,” Davis said.

The Jaguars put up 23 points in the second quarter while their defense held the Trojans to just eight points, giving the home team a commanding 35-14 lead at halftime. Madison Parish would not let up in the third quarter, outscoring Ferriday 17-10 for a 52-22 advantage.

With most of the Jaguars’ starters on the bench and their reserves on the court for the fourth quarter, the Trojans were able to outscore them 18-14. The Jaguars’ defense was so tough that not one player for Ferriday scored in double figures.

The Trojans were led by Derrick Carson and Montrell Reynolds with eight points apiece while Paul Swanson added seven points.

“We lose four seniors from this year’s team. This year has been a different line-up every week. We didn’t have that continuity,” Davis said.

Ferriday finished its season with an overall record of 10-12. Madison Parish improved to 26-2 overall and took on No. 13 seed Many High School Tuesday night in a regional-round game.