Undefeated Season Continues
The Jena Giants welcomed the Marksville Tigers to town for Homecoming this past Friday night and they would demonstrate why they are the favorite to win District 2-3A.
There was a capacity crowd on hand as there wasn’t an empty seat left in the stadium as JHS celebrated homecoming and opened district play against the Tigers. The Giants were looking to stay undefeated and start out district play with a win. Marksville, who is much improved from last season, was looking to pull off the upset and keep their record above 500. Last season, the Giants defeated Marksville 42-6 in Marksville with Zerrick Jones having a big game against the Tigers. The captains for the Giants would be seniors Dylon Davis, Zerrick Jones, Zach Barker, and Boots Green. The Giants would win the toss and would defer to the second half.
The Giants would do their job as they would force Marksville to punt on their opening drive. The Giants would take over and would march the ball down the field but would fumble in Marksville territory giving the ball back to the Tigers.
Marksville would capitalize off the turnover as they would go 64 yards in 8 plays ending with a Kyreon Prier 38-yard touchdown run to give the Tigers a 6-0 lead.
The Giants would settle in from there and would go on to score on their next 8 drives. Zerrick Jones would score the first touchdown of the night on a 17-yard touchdown run to give the Giants an 8-6 lead. On the Giants next possession, Zy Hunter would score a 22-yard rushing touchdown. Boots Green, the Giants’ defensive nose guard, would run in the two point conversion in the Giants’ “Train” formation and the Giants would lead 16-6. Marksville would answer in the second quarter with a long touchdown pass to pull within four points of the Giants. But Jena would answer right back as Zach Barker would find Braydon Oakes for a 23-yard touchdown pass to give the Giants a 22-12 lead. The Giants defense would force three and outs on the next two drives by Marksville. The Giants would score two more times as Barker would find Zy Hunter wide open over the middle for a 35-yard touchdown pass and Zerrick Jones would score a 39-yard touchdown run to give the Giants a 38-12 lead going into halftime. The Giants would put the game away as Zerrick Jones would score on a 3-yard touchdown run on the opening possession of the second half to give the Giants a 44-12 lead.
On Marksville’s next possession Demariyon Hammock would make an excellent leaping grab for an interception to give the ball right back to the Giant’s offense. Zach Barker would then find Zy Hunter for a 43-yard touchdown pass to give the Giants a 52-12 lead.
Both teams would add a touchdown late in the game but the Giants would go on to win 60-20. This would be the most points in a game for the Giants since the 2020 season when they scored 68 points at Grant.
Zerrick Jones would lead the Giants offense with 13 carries for 195 rushing yards and 3 rushing touchdowns. Zy Hunter finished with 3 total touchdowns and 78 receiving yards on 2 receptions.
Demariyon Hammock was dependable all night as he had 7 tackles in the game with 6 of them solo and an interception. Triston McLendon had 8 tackles with 4 solo, 2 tackles for loss, and a sack.
With the win the Giants improve to 6-0 for the first time since the 2017 season. This week the Giants will play on Thursday as the Bolton Bears come to town for the second district game. Bolton will come into the game looking for their first win of the season.
Everyone make plans to be at Guy Campbell Memorial Stadium Thursday night to cheer on the Giants. Kickoff will be at 7 pm.
If you can’t make it to the game then tune in to FM 102.7 to hear all the live action starting at 6:00 p.m. with the 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.
