First championship game appearance in program history
The past week for the Jena Giants has been one that this town will never forget. After defeating Union Parish in the semifinals, the eyes of the state were on the program as it would be the first time Giants would play for a state championship. Media from all over the state interviewed Head Coach Jay Roark. The Giants were the only central Louisiana team to make it to the state championships and Alexandria and Monroe news would report daily from the school. The town would come together, and it seemed like every hour another business would make a donation to the football program to help with expenses.
The senior football players would do something that most of high school football players don’t get to do and that is have a final week of practice knowing it would be the final time you would practice with your teammates.
On Thursday, there would be a pep rally early in the morning, then a walkthrough practice before departing for New Orleans. As the team left for New Orleans the streets of Jena were lined with fans cheering them on.
The Giants would arrive at the Caesars Superdome, the holy grail for Louisiana high school football players, which is every players dream to make it to the Superdome. This dome has hosted some of history’s best sports moments including Michael Jordan making the winning shot in the National Championship his freshman season, Muhammad Ali winning the heavyweight championship, Tom Brady winning his first Super Bowl, and three LSU national championship victories. So, you can imagine that Coach Jay Roark and staff would be a bit concerned about the bright lights and a young team that had only a couple of players that ever been in the building. However, Coach Roark would arrange for the team to watch the second game of the day on Thursday afternoon to let the team get adjusted to being in the building and getting a feel for what its like to play there.
On Friday, the team would prepare to play for a state championship for the first time in school history. It would be a familiar opponent for the #1 Jena Giants. Last year, the Sterlington Panthers ended the Giants’ season in the semifinals by a score of 48-14 after leading 35-0 at halftime. The #2 Panthers would go on to win the State Championship over St. James and would look to defend it against the Giants. Both teams are built on the same principles, which is run the ball and play good defense. Both teams would bring two of the best offenses in the state into this game as the Giants came in averaging 50 points per game while the Panthers came in averaging 46.2 points per game.
Sterlington came into the game with an 11-2 record but their two losses were to two of the best teams in the state in Ouachita and Neville. The two teams had two common opponents in Tioga and Union Parish. Jena defeated Union Parish 30-6 while Sterlington defeated them 42-7. Sterlington defeated Tioga 47-31 while Jena’s only loss of the season came to Tioga 45-26. All week people from all over the state picked Sterlington to win by 21-28 points. One fan on a message board said Jena should just forfeit and save a trip. The Giants would have other plans though.
The Superdome would be electric all weekend with great games and incredible finishes. On Friday Jena, Louisiana would take over the Dome as they would fill their side of the stadium and would outnumber the Sterlington side.
The captains for the Giants were seniors Bubba Stevens, Luke Smith, Cale Parker and Sedrick Wilson. Sterlington would win the toss and would elect to receive the opening kickoff.
The question coming into the game would be could the Jena defense even slow down the Sterlington offense much less stop them. Sterlington would receive the opening kickoff and would assert their dominance on the first drive as they would go on a 14 play, 63-yard drive ending with a TJ Burch 3-yard touchdown run to put them up 7-0. The drive would take 6:34 off of the clock and it would look like Sterlington was well in control of the game.
But the Giants would come back with an even better offensive drive as they would go 74 yards in 15 plays ending with a Sedrick Wilson 10yard touchdown run. It would appear that Wilson went out of bounds on the run but after a replay review it was overturned to a touchdown. The drive would take 5:57 off the clock.
From this point the Jena defense would do something that everyone said they couldn’t do and that is stop the Sterlington defense. The Giants defense would stop Sterlington on their next three drives. They would force a turnover on downs, force a punt and force a fumble that Elijah Townsend would recover.
On the first play of the Giants second offensive possession of the game, senior quarterback Deuce McPherson would drop back and throw a long pass to senior receiver Zadrien Cooper who would go up between two defenders to make the catch and then outrun them for a 74-yard touchdown reception that would send the Jena faithful into a frenzy and give the Giants a 12-7 lead.
The Giants would have two more offensive possessions that would get into Sterlington territory but both times they would turn it over on downs. The Giants would go into halftime with a 12-7 lead.
The Giants would receive the ball to start the second half but would struggle to move the ball. On their opening drive they would go 3 and out and be forced to punt. On their second drive, they would fumble and turn the ball over. On their third drive, they would be forced to punt but would run a fake punt and would appear to get the first down. After replay review though, the call would be overturned and the ball would be moved back a half a yard. This would result in a turnover on downs and Sterlington would take over.
Sterlington would get off to a great start in the second half as they would score touchdowns on their first two drives of the half to take a 2212 lead.
The Giants would force another fumble as Jonas Jenkins would deliver a big hit to force the fumble and Elijah Townsend would once again recover it. But the Giants would be forced to punt on the drive.
The Giants would be forced to pass late to try and score quick and this would result in two interceptions returned for touchdowns by Devyn Downs and Tre Burch to put Sterlington up 3412.
However, the Giants wouldn’t give up as Deuce McPherson would find Adrian Sharp for an impressive 39-yard touchdown pass where Sharp would carry the defender 10 yards into the end zone for the score to make it 34-20.
Sterlington would go on to win 34-20 for their second consecutive state championship. Zadrien Cooper would be named Player of the Game for the Giants as he finished with 4 receptions for 125 yards and 1 touchdown. Deuce McPherson would finish with 195 yards passing and 2 passing touchdowns. Daniel Hatcher would finish with 21 carries for 112 yards. Sedrick Wilson would finish with 25 carries for 90 yards and 1 touchdown. Adrian Sharp finished with 5 receptions for 70 yards and a touchdown.
The Giants outgained Sterlington in total yardage 417 to 309. Xavier Brown would lead the team with 8 tackles. Kayson Dean had 7 tackles. Elijah Townsend had a great game that had the Superdome talking as he finished with 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and 2 fumble recoveries.
It wasn’t the result that the Giants wanted but the experience and the memories of this past week will last a lifetime. To the Jena Giants seniors – congratulations on leading the program to heights never seen before. Their final records include: most wins in a career; 3 district championships; 2 semifinal appearances; and a state championship appearance.
Congratulations to Head Coach Jay Roak and staff and thank you for the time and effort that is put in to bring the program to this point. These seniors will be missed but they have laid the foundation for future teams to get back to this point. They have proved that Jena can make it the Dome.
Congratulations Giants on a great season and thank you for the ride. It’s been fun.
