The Jena Giants traveled to Vidalia last Friday night for their second district game and the contest was over by the first quarter with the Giants ultimately winning 60-0. It would be the first matchup between the teams since 2021 after Vidalia dropped down to Class 2A and has been in a different district for the last few years. The Giants have dominated this rivalry recently as they came in to the game winning their last six matchups with Vidalia. The Giants would be looking to pick up another district win and keep their district winning streak alive. They have won the district four years in a row and currently have a 19-district game winning streak going.
The captains for the Giants were seniors Zach Scales, Triston McLendon, Colten Sharp, and Jacob Belcher. Vidalia would win the toss and would elect to receive.
Vidalia would have their only success of the night on the first offensive play as they would complete a 26yard pass for a first down. After that, the Giants defense would force them to punt and, on the punt, they would have trouble with the snap and would give the Giants the ball at the Vidalia 40-yard line. One play later Sedrick Wilson would score on a 40yard touchdown run – the first offensive play of the game for the Giants. Jacob Belcher would run in the 2-point conversion and the Giants would lead 8-0.
On Vidalia’s next possession their quarterback would throw an interception to senior safety Cayden Mursch who would return it 16 yards for a touchdown. Jacob Belcher would add the two-point conversion and the Giants would lead 16-0.
The route would be on as Sedrick Wilson would add a 1-yard touchdown run. Deuce McPherson would throw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Brayden Oakes. The Giants would lead 28-0 midway through the 1st quarter.
Later in the quarter, the Giants would get a 5-yard touchdown run by Daniel Hatcher. On the 2-point play Jacob Belcher would throw a shovel pass to fellow linebacker Triston Mc-Lendon for the 2-point play and the Giants would lead 36-0.
The Giants would get one more touchdown runs from Daniel Hatcher and Sedrick Wilson and the Giants would lead 52-0. They would have a running clock at the start of the 2nd quarter and in the second half would play 8-minute quarters to finish the game.
The Giants would get one more touchdown in the second half as senior receiver Keegan Roark would score on a 1-yard touchdown run. Freshman Kaeden Kittlin would score the 2-point conversion to give the Giants a 60-0 lead.
The Giants would go on to win 60-0 to improve to 5-2 on the season and 2-0 in district play.
Sedrick Wilson would lead the Giants with 76 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. Kairi Richardson would finish with three carries for 74 rushing yards. Brayden Oakes had two receptions for 55 yards and one touchdown. Zoyle Gemar had three tackles, including two tackles for loss and one sack. Zac Brown also had an interception in the game.
This week the Giants will put their 20-game district win streak on the line as the undefeated Bunkie Panthers come to town. These two teams were undefeated last year when they met in Bunkie with the Giants coming away with the victory. Bunkie has one of their best teams in school history and will surely bring a lot of fans Friday night so we will need everyone to make plans to be at Guy Campbell Memorial Stadium Friday night at 7:00 p.m.
Although Halloween in the next week, this single game is set up to be the “monster” game of the week across the entire state. As was last year, there will surely be lots of media and attention to this game and a win for the Giants would likely propel them from the #3 spot in the state to even higher.
If you can’t make it to the game then you can tune in to 102.7 KJNA to hear all the live action starting at 6:00 with the 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.kjnafmjena. mixlr.com.
(For more in-depth Jena Giant football information, listen to the “Walkthrough” on KJNA FM 102.7or on Facebook-each Wednesday night at 7 p.m.)
Photos from the game:
