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FERRIDAY, La. — Even after a 23-point loss at Class 3A Richwood High School in its regular-season finale back on Friday, Feb. 21, Ferriday High School’s varsity boys’ basketball team was able to maintain a high seed in the LHSAA Non-Select Division IV Playoffs.

The Ferriday High Trojans are the No. 4 seed and because of that, they earned a bye through the Bi-District Round and into the Regional Round. And they will play host to the winner of Friday night’s game between the No. 20 seed Northeast High School Vikings and the No. 13 seed Lake Arthur High School Tigers early next week,

Trojans head coach Shawn Davis said getting a first-round bye was one of the team’s goal at the start of the 2024-2025 season.

“I don’t think Ferriday’s ever had a first-round bye. At least not that I know of. So we’re excited about that,” Davis said.

Ferriday enters the playoffs with a 23-9 overall record. After getting off to a 1-3 start in the very tough District 2-2A, the Trojans won their final three district games to finish with a 4-3 mark. After a win at Concordia Parish rival Vidalia High School and a ‘non-district’ win at Mangham High School, the Trojans lost to the Richwood Rams 87-64. Richwood, oddly enough, is the No. 4 seed in the Non-Select Division III Playoffs, which also has another of Ferriday’s district foes in Madison High School as its No. 1 seed.

But as Davis pointed out about the loss in Ferriday’s regular-season finale, don’t let that final score be deceiving because the game was close for a while before the Rams pulled away.

“It was 36-36 at halftime. We went up 45-43 with about three minutes left in the third quarter. A couple of fouls that were called changed the momentum against us. Then they went on a (big) run. But they’re the defending state champions. It was good to go up against good competition,” Davis said.

With the Trojans earning a bye into the Regional Round, that will mean more time to recover from any nicks, bruises, and injuries. It will also mean more practice time to prepare for a home game on Tuesday, March 4 at the Ferriday Junior High School Gym at a time yet to be determined. Davis said that the game will likely start at 6 p.m., but he added that it might be at either 6:30 p.m. or even 7 p.m. He also said that admission to get in is $12.00.

“We’ve got a couple of guys who are still injured. Hopefully, they’ll be back in the rotation for Tuesday,” Davis said. “We get a couple of more days for practice. It also gives us extra time to recuperate from injuries.”

And expect a raucous crowd of Trojan fans to be cheering on the home team. Fans of either Northeast or Lake Arthur will have a good contingent of fans cheering on their team as well.