The Giants traveled to Caldwell for another edition of their rivalry this past week. This would be the 49th meeting between the two teams with Jena holding a 25-23 edge in the rivalry. This would be probably one of the least hyped Jena-Caldwell games in recent memory. Part of that would probably have to do with Caldwell coming into the game with a 0-8 record and the Giants coming in after getting shutout by Bunkie 41-0 in the week prior. The Giants did come into the game with a five-game win streak over the Spartans after defeating them twice last season.
Coming off two weeks of players with the flu and the long recovery process, the Giants were back on track and clicking on all cylinders as they posted a 50-14 victory of the winless Caldwell Spartans.
The captains for the Giants were seniors Colten Sharp, Zach Scales, Triston McLendon, and Jacob Belcher. The Giants would win the toss and would defer to the second half.
Caldwell would get the ball first and would go 64 yards in 6 plays ending with an Andrew McKee 48-yard touchdown run to go up 7-0 early. The Giants would quickly respond as on the first offensive play from scrimmage Daniel Hatcher would score on a 63-yard run to make it 7-6. The Giants would take over from that point as the defense would shut down the Caldwell offense.
The Giants offense would run at will as Sedrick Wilson would score on touchdown runs of 65 yards, 39 yards, 60 yards, and 66 yards. Daniel Hatcher would add touchdown runs of 1 yard and 61 yards and the Giants would take a 50-7 lead into halftime. Rain would begin to fall near the end of the 1st quarter and would continue until the end of the game.
In the second half, it would be a running clock as the Giants would have their JV team in for the entire second half. The Giants would go on to win 50-14 to improve to 6-3 on the season.
The Giants finished with 477 rushing yards on 29 carries for an average of 16 yards per carry. Sedrick Wilson would finish with an incredible stat line as he had 5 carries for 262 yards and 4 touchdowns. Wilson averaged 52 yards a carry in the game. Daniel Hatcher finished with 7 carries for 156 yards and 3 touchdowns. Triston McLendon finished with 6 tackles, 1 tackle for loss and 1 sack. Jacob Belcher also had 6 tackles. Colten Sharp had 5 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and 1 sack.
With the win, the Giants now prepare for their final regular season game as the Buckeye Panthers will come to town Friday night. Buckeye will come into the game with a 6-3 record after picking up a big win at Marksville. Both teams will be looking to pick up wins to help improve their power ranking as much as possible.
It will be homecoming this Friday night so make sure you get there early to get a good parking spot and seat. Kickoff will be at 7:00.
If you are not able to come to the game then you can hear all the live action on 102.7 KJNAFM starting at 6:00 with the Jena Giants pregame show. If you are not in the listening area then you can tune in on the MIXLR app by searching for KJNAFM or go online at www.kjnafmjena. mixlr.com.
Fans may also be interested in catching The Walkthrough Jena Giants football program on Wednesday nights at 7 p.m., for in-depth analysis of the Giants, player and coaches’ interviews and much more from Louisiana high school football. The program is heard on KJNA FM 102.7 or on Facebook.
