Thi s past Friday night the Giants would put their undefeated record on the line against one of the best teams in Cenla as the Tioga Indians came to Guy Campbell Memorial Stadium in what proved to be a playoff style atmosphere.
This game has become one of the best games every year in Central LA with two of the better programs in the area. Last year, Tioga blew out the Giants in an eye-opening game for Jena. This year the Giants would look for revenge.
Tioga would come in with a 3-1 record on the season and on a three-game winning streak in which they scored at least 50 points in all three wins. The captains for the Giants would be seniors Sedrick Wilson, Cale Parker, Bubba Stevens, and Luke Smith. The Giants would win the toss and would defer to the second half.
The question coming into the game would be ‘could the Jena defense stop the high-powered Tioga offense?’. Tioga would get excellent field position on their opening drive as Louisiana Tech commit Kervin Johnson would have a big kick return to midfield. But the Jena defense would get the job done as they would force a turnover on downs. Jena would have to punt on their first offensive drive of the game as both teams would settle in.
The Giants would make the first big play of the game as junior safety Carter Nichols would deliver a big hit to the Tioga running back forcing a fumble. Senior linebacker Jesse Love would recover it and return it inside the 20-yard line to set up the Giants in great field position.
The Giants would then get a 1-yard touchdown run from Daniel Hatcher and would take a 6-0 lead. Tioga would answer quickly though with a 6-play 77-yard drive ending with a Kenny Ponthier 5-yard touchdown run to take a 7-6 lead. Tioga would pick up a 32-yard field goal from Ethan Bridges to increase their lead to 10-6 midway through the 2nd quarter.
The Giants would have a long, 16-play, 65-yard drive that would end in a fumble at the Tioga 2 yard line early in the 2nd quarter. The Giants would put together a scoring drive late in the 2nd quarter as they would go 65 yards in 8 plays ending with a Sedrick Wilson 4-yard touchdown run. Deuce McPherson would find Adrian Sharp in the end zone for the 2-point conversion and the Giants would take a 14-10 lead into halftime.
The Giants would get the ball to start the second half looking to increase their lead. Getting off to a rough start, they would fumble the ball on 3rd down and then snap the ball over the punters head on 4th down giving Tioga excellent field position. Jena would be forced to punt on their first three drives of the 2nd half. Tioga would score touchdowns on their first two drives of the second half to take a 24-14 lead.
The Giants would come back with a long 77-yard touchdown pass from Deuce McPherson to Zadrien Cooper to cut the deficit to 24-20. Tioga would outscore Jena 21-6 in the 4th quarter to go on to win 45– 26.
In the game for the Giants Deuce McPherson finished with 147 passing yards and 1 TD, Sedrick Wilson had 22 carries for 77 yards and 2 touchdowns and Zadrien Cooper finished with 3 receptions for 89 yards and a touchdown.
On defense, Xavier Brown would lead the team with 7 tackles. Carter Nichols and Cash Richerson had 6 tackles each with Nichols also forcing a fumble. Elijah Townsend had a great game on the defensive line as he had 5 tackles and 3 tackles for loss in the game.
The Giants are now 4-1 going into district play this week and they have a big game to start district. The undefeated Marksville Tigers come to town with a very good passing attack and looking to stay undefeated.
It should be a great game, so everyone come out and cheer on the Giants. Kickoff will be at 7:00 p.m.
If you can’t make it to the game, then you can hear all the action live on 102.7 KJNA starting at 6:00 p.m. with the Cajun Seafood and Specialty Meats Jena Giants Pre-Game Show.
If you are not in the listening area, then you can download the MIXLR app and search for KJNAFM or go online at www.mixlr.com/kjnafm.
