On Thursday night, October 30, the Jena Giants welcomed the Caldwell Spartans to town for another district matchup. The Giants were the talk of the Cenla area coming off of their big win over the Bunkie Panthers. With a win over Caldwell the Giants would clinch the district championship.
Caldwell would come into the game with a 2-6 record and looking to upset the Giants and improve their ranking for the playoffs. The Giants, who came into the game as the #1 team in the Division III Non-Select power rankings, were looking to stay on top of the rankings. The captains for the Giants were seniors Cale Parker, Sedrick Wilson, Luke Smith, and Bubba Stevens. Caldwell would win the toss and would elect to defer to the second half.
The Giants would not waste any time taking the lead as on their second play from scrimmage, Sedrick Wilson would score on a 39-yard touchdown run to give the Giants an 8-0 lead. The Jena offense would have a couple of big plays called back by penalties later in the 1st quarter, frustrating the Jena fans. The Giants would take an 8-0 lead into the 2nd quarter.
The Giants have had some big 2nd quarters this year and that is the quarter where they normally put the game away. This would be the case in this game as well as the Giants would outscore Caldwell 30-0 in the 2nd quarter to take a 38-0 lead into halftime.
The Giants defense would play very well as they would force two turnovers in the first half as for the second consecutive week Jonas Jenkins would have an interception and Ken Jones would recover a fumble. The interception by Jenkins was his fourth on the season. In the 2nd quarter the Giants would get a 59-yard touchdown run by Sedrick Wilson, 15- and 78-yard touchdown runs by Daniel Hatcher and a 27-yard touchdown reception from Cale Parker.
In the second half, Caldwell would open the half with a scoring drive but that would be the only score of the game for the Spartans. Sedrick Wilson would add a 10-yard touchdown run for Jena and the Giants would go on to win 46-6.
With the win the Giants improve to 8-1 on the season and 4-0 in district play. Deuce McPherson would finish the game 7-11 for 111 yards passing and 1 passing touchdown. Daniel Hatcher finished with 11 carries for 172 rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns. Sedrick Wilson finished with 15 carries for 163 rushing yards and 3 rushing touchdowns.
Jesse Love would finish the game with a team high 13 tackles in the game which is the most by a Jena defender this season in a game. Nolan Williams had 6 tackles and 2 tackles for loss. Elijah Townsend had 4 tackles and 2 tackles for loss.
The Jena-Caldwell rivalry has been a good one over the years, but the Giants have completely dominated the rivalry recently. In the last 13 matchups between the two teams Jena is 12-1 with an average margin of victory of 23.7 points per game. In the last 7 matchups the Giants have defeated Caldwell by an average score of 37.7 points per game. Jena currently has an 8-game winning streak over Caldwell.
The Giants will finish up the regular season this Friday night as they travel to Buckeye to take on the Panthers. Two years ago, the Giants trav- eled to Buckeye looking to finish the season as the #1 seed going into the playoffs. The Giants will be looking to do the same this Friday night.
Buckeye will come into the game with a 4-5 record and will be needing a win to make it into the playoffs. So, the Giants will get Buckeye’s best effort as they will be trying to keep their season alive.
Everyone is asked to make the short trip up the road to Deville to cheer on the Giants. Kickoff will be at 7:00 pm. If you can’t make it to the game, then you can hear all the action live on 102.7 KJNAFM starting at 6:00 pm with the Cajun Seafood and Specialty Meats Jena Giants pregame 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.
