Sports

By Austin Whatley

The Jena Giants had a home playoff game last week as for the 4th year in a row the Giants earned a home game in the 1st round of the Class 3A state playoffs. The Giants finished the regular season as district champs and their 8 wins earned them the #12 seed in the playoffs.

The Giants opponent would come from the southwest part of the state as they would take on the #21 South Beauregard Golden Knights. South Beauregard would come in with a 5-5 record but during the week many of the predictions were that the Golden Knights would pull off the upset.

South Beauregard is a very similar team to the Westlake team that came to Jena a year ago and upset the Giants in the 1st round of the playoffs. The Jena Giants senior class remembered how it felt to be upset like that and they vowed to make it sure it didn’t happen again.

For the past four years of high school, senior Shaun Todd has watched as large crowds of football supporters fill the stands each Friday night in support of the Giants - whether at home or on the road.

He has witnessed how those crowds have helped the team in crucial situations and close games to help secure a victory. Todd has also seen how the community supports the Giants off the field, from part-time jobs at local businesses, to helping them with funds to get needed equipment.

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By Austin Whatley

This past week the Giants traveled to Columbia to take on the Caldwell Spartans in what has become a pretty good rivalry game for the Giants the past few seasons. Last season saw a matchup of undefeated teams that was watched by the biggest crowd to ever watch a game at Guy Campbell Memorial Stadium.

Last year’s game was for the district championship and it ended with Shaun Todd catching a 30 yard touchdown pass from Lamar Farris in the final minute of the game to give the Giants a 29-26 win.

The Giants came into the game last Friday winners of 5 of the last 6 matchups between the two teams and on a 4 game winning streak in the series. This year would be no different as Caldwell would come into the game with a 7-1 and 3-0 district record while the Giants came in with a 6-2 and a 2-1 district record.

The Jena High School Alumni Association is raffling off two tickets to the New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles game on November 18th at the Superdome in New Orleans. The game begins at noon.

The winner will receive two executive skybox suite tickets, as well as a $150.00 Visa gift card. Drawing for the winner will be held during the annual JHS Alumni Association banquet, planned for tomorrow night, November 1, 2018, at the Family Life Center of First Baptist Church in Jena.

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By Austin Whatley

The Jena Giants came into this past week with their season on the line. With the loss to Avoyelles a couple of weeks ago that made it where every game the rest of the season would be important if the Giants wanted to win a district championship.

This week the important game would be against the Marksville Tigers. These two teams have produced some incredible games over the years with the winner going on to win the district championship the last 5 seasons. There is a crazy stat between these two teams though as in the last 6 matchups the road team has won every time.

There would be a lot at stake in this one as both teams came in with 5-2 records and the Tigers came in undefeated in district play. Both teams are also looking to set themselves up with a good playoff seed with a win.

By Greg Jones

The LaSalle Tigers got much needed revenge on the Warriors of Lakeside High School this past Friday night with a 47-42 win. The Tigers were talking all week about the game last year that cost them a running back, quarterback, and lots of pride. The LaSalle Tigers took a whooping last year in Sibley, Louisiana, but returned the favor to the 5-2 Warriors in Olla this year.

The Tigers scored early and often as the Warriors couldn’t stop the run or the passing attack of the Tigers. Jason Baum found 2 different receivers for touchdowns in this game as the Tigers racked up 226 yards through the air.