By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports
Airline coach Justin Scogin has a theory about the flow of the prep football season.
“When you start the season, you know you aren’t going to play your best football in Weeks 1 and 2,” Scogin said. “You just try to maintain until you can hit on both sides. Last week we finally played a full game on both sides of the ball.”
His team will be among the four playing tonight and his theory has seemed to apply to each.
The Vikings will take on Benton (1-2) at 7 o’clock at M.D. Ray Stadium and Tigers coach Reynolds Moore said before and after last week’s game against Newman that he is still looking for his team to put it all together.
At Independence Stadium, Captain Shreve (2-1) will take on Byrd and the Gators have been another perfect example – sluggish in the opening game, overwhelmed in the second game and then seemed to put it all together last week in a 34-20 win over Union Parish.
“At some point you’re going to have some adversity, and you have to handle it, you have to conquer it,” Shreve coach Adam Kirby said. “That’s a life lesson our kids are taking to heart and that makes me very proud of them.”
Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets (0-3) have been all over the place, with a slow start at Pleasant Grove in the opener, scoring 43 in the second game and still losing to Huntington before falling behind by two touchdowns before the offense even had the ball last week against Calvary.
The Vikings have been able to survive the early season ups-and-downs to maintain a perfect record through three games.
“We were able to play well in spurts on both sides of the ball in the first two games,” Scogin said. “But we weren’t really able to play a full game. Now, part of that was who we played. (North DeSoto and Union Parish) are two of the best teams in their class in the state.”
The Vikings have put 149 points on the board so far in three games, but they’ll be up against a Benton team that seemed to start figuring things out last week in a 37-27 loss to Newman. One of the things the Tigers have known for a long time is to get the ball in the hands of running back Greg Manning, who had 224 yards rushing and three touchdowns last week.
“I’m always scared when Number 1 (Manning) has the ball in his hands,” Scogin said. “And the quarterback (Jeff King) is good too, so they have some pieces. When they get it going, they are going to be tough to stop.”
As the District 1-5A season opens, the Vikings find themselves in a different position from a year ago, when they surprised everyone on the way to a perfect district record after a 0-3 start.
Scogin is aware that they won’t be sneaking up on anybody this year. “I think we learned to play like we were the hunted last year,” he said. “We talked about all off-season about how it’s going to be different and that teams would be coming after us. I think the kids have responded well and they are ready for everyone’s best shot.”
Shreve and Byrd are well accustomed to take each other’s best shot in this intense rivalry. It’s an important, high-profile game, to be sure, but Kirby thinks the matchup is important for different reasons.
“We’ve got to change our way of thinking over here on Kings Highway, that if we beat Byrd, it’s a successful season,” he said. “That’s not an attitude we need, where beating any one team is successful. I don’t mean to be negative. I don’t mean to be ugly. It’s a big ball game because it’s 1-5A.”
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com
CAPTAIN SHREVE (2-1) vs. BYRD (0-3), Independence Stadium
Series: Byrd 29-16
Last year: Byrd 25-20
Last week: Captain Shreve beat Union Parish 34-20; Byrd lost to Calvary 42-21
Rankings: CS is No. 4 in SBJ Top 10 poll
Power rankings: CS No. 13 in Select Div. I; Byrd No. 19 in Select Div. I
Radio: CS (KLKL.FM, 95.7 FM); Byrd (The Tiger, 1130AM, 103.3 FM)
Notable: Byrd has won 26 of the last 28 games in the series …. Malachi Johnson leads Byrd in rushing with 265 yards, averages eight yards per carry and has scored six touchdowns … The Jackets average 233.7 yards a game on the ground … Last week, Captain Shreve quarterback Brodie Savage made his first start in 2023 and his second in his two years at Shreve and tied his career high of 247 yards he passed for last year against Southwood … both schools fell in previous weeks to Class 2A No. 1 Calvary.
BENTON (1-2) at AIRLINE (3-0), M.D. Ray Field at Airline Stadium
Series: Airline 3-1
Last year: Airline 75-59
Last week: Airline beat Northwood 48-14; Benton lost to Newman 37-27
Rankings: Airline is tied at No. 1 in SBJ Top 10 poll, received votes in LSWA 5A poll; Benton is No. 8 in SBJ poll
Power rankings: Benton No. 24 in Non-Select Div. I; Airline No. 8 in Non-Select Div. I
Radio: none
Notable: Airline QB Ben Taylor has passed for 995 yards, good enough for second in the state’s stat leaders compiled by GeauxPreps.com … Jarvis Davis leads local receivers with 25 receptions and has 345 yards and two touchdowns … Benton has dropped two straight to ranked teams …. Tigers’ RB Greg Manning is second among local rushers with 433 yards on 78 carries and has scored seven touchdowns … QB Jeff King passed for 210 yards on 17-of-29 passes in last week’s loss to Newman.