The Jena Giants football team began their 2024 campaign with a home game this past Friday night against the Mangham Dragons. Jena and Mangham have played some hard-fought games over the years and last year’s contest was a classic that came down to the wire with the Giants winning 3432. That win seemed to propel Jena to a historic season last year.
Mangham is one of the North Louisiana small school traditional powers as it seems they make playoff runs every year. Last year, Mangham made it to the quarterfinals where they lost to eventual State Champion Oak Grove 31-30. This year would seem to be setup for another classic showdown with both teams wanting to start their seasons with a win.
The captains for the Giants were seniors Zachary Scales, Colten Sharp, Triston McLendon and Jacob Belcher. Mangham would win the toss and would elect to receive.
Mangham has always been a wellcoached team led by offensive coordinator Bo Meeks. The Dragons would have freshman Colby Casey at quarterback getting his first start. This year would be no different from last year as Mangham would move the ball up and down the field to keep the Jena defense off balance. But the Giants defense would make some key plays in the game.
On Mangham’s first drive they would move the ball into Jena territory and would have a 4th and short situation. The Giants would stop Mangham a yard short to give the ball to the Giants’ offense. Three plays later Jena junior tailback Sedrick Wilson would break free for a 49-yard touchdown run to give the Giants an early 6-0 lead.
Mangham would once again come back with a good offensive drive as this time they would get all the way to the Jena goal line. The Giants defense would stand tall once again on 4th and goal from the Jena 1 yard line, as senior defensive lineman Colten Sharp and a host of Jena players would stop Mangham tailback Jay Miles in his tracks to turn the ball over back to the Jena offense once again.
On the Giants’ second drive Jena junior quarterback Deuce McPherson would get hit in the backfield and would fumble the ball with Mangham recovering it deep in Jena territory. Four plays later Mangham tailback Jay Miles would score a 3-yard touchdown run. Freshman quarterback Colby Casey would run in the two-point conversion to give Mangham an 8-6 lead.
The Giants would answer right back though as they would end up scoring on all but one of their offensive drives in the first half. On their third drive of the half the Giants would march 59 yards in 10 plays ending with a Deuce McPherson 6-yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Adrian Sharp. Sedrick Wil-son would run in the 2-point conversion and the Giants would retake the lead 14-6.
On Mangham’s last drive of the 1st half they would once again move the ball down to field as they would go 45 yards in 11 plays but this drive would end with a turnover. Quarterback Colby Casey would throw a long pass into the end zone intended for senior receiver Lane Almond but Jena junior cornerback Xavier Brown would leap up to make the interception and give the ball back to the Jena offense.
Jena would have less than two minutes to go in the half and would start at their own 20-yard line after the touchback on the interception. The Giants would attempt a long pass but it would fall incomplete. The Giants would then get a 24-yard rush from Sedrick Wilson. The Giants without much time would attempt another long pass but it would be incomplete as well. But on the play, there would be a roughing the passer penalty. There would also be an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called on Mangham defensive back Lane Almond which was his second of the game and would mean that he would be ejected from the game. The Mangham sideline was not happy about this and they would then get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on themselves as well. All of these penalties would result in Jena having the ball at the Mangham 8-yard line with a 1st and goal situation. With only around 30 seconds left in the half the Giants would attempt a couple of passes that would fall incomplete. Then on 4th and goal from the 5-yard line, Sedrick Wilson would run into the end zone untouched as the time ran off the clock to extend the Giants lead to 20-8 going into halftime.
The Giants would get the ball to start the 2nd half and with everything that happened at the end of the 1st half it wouldn’t have been surprising to see Mangham give up. But that did not happen at all as the Dragons came out of halftime on fire. The Mangham defense would force to Jena to punt on their first two drives of the second half. Mangham would get a 3-yard touchdown run from Reggie Roberson to put the Dragons right back into the game at 20-14. The Giants would get something going on their 3rd drive of the 3rd quarter as Sedrick Wilson would continue his big night with a 67yard touchdown run to give the Giants a 26-14 lead.
Once again Mangham would not quit as they would come back with a 6 play 70-yard scoring drive ending with a Colby Casey 2-yard touchdown run. Casey would then find receiver Blake Pierce for the two-point conversion and the Giants lead would be 26-22. Jena would turn the ball over on downs on their next drive and Mangham would have a chance to take the lead. Mangham would go 63 yards in 8 plays and would have a 4th and 3 at the Jena 10yard line. Once again, the Jena defense would rise to the occasion as Jena senior safety Cayden Mursch would knock the Mangham pass to the ground incomplete to give the ball back to the Giants offense. Jena would go on to win 26-22.
The Giants defense would stop Mangham on 4th down three different times. The Jena offense finished with 237 yards on the ground. Jena tailback Sedrick Wilson had a great game for the Giants as he finished with 16 carries for 197 yards and 3 touchdowns. Jena safety Cayden Mursch would lead the Giants defense with 14 tackles and 2 pass deflections. Jena linebacker Triston Mc-Lendon had 13 tackles and 2 tackles for loss. It was once again another classic in Guy Campbell Memorial Stadium as the Giants start off 1-0.
I wouldn’t make any excuses to miss any games this year as it looks to be another fun year for the Jena Giants. This week the Giants have another home game as the Menard Eagles come to town. Menard won their district last season and will be another good opponent for the Giants.
So, make sure to fill the stadium and be loud to cheer on the Giants this week. If you can’t make it to the game then you can hear all the live action on 102.7 KJNA starting at 6:00 with the pre-game 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.
