By LORI LYONS, Journal Sports
There are some high school football fans who say that the unbeaten Airline Vikings don’t play defense.
That’s partly because the Vikings have been involved in more than their fair share of high-scoring games this season, including, most notably, a 69-68 win over Captain Shreve on Oct. 4.
But Vikings senior linebacker Jaydan Gladney wants you to know that his team definitely does play defense. He certainly does. In fact, it was Gladney who helped knock down the Captain Shreve two-point conversion pass attempt that ultimately sealed the victory for Airline.
“They tried to do a trick play and throw it to the O-lineman and I was able to bat the ball down. I read it perfectly and was able to get a stop,” said Gladney, who fortunately escaped injury when his teammates tried to swarm him after the play. “Somebody pushed me saying ‘good job.’ I almost fell but I had to get back on the field for the kickoff.”
It’s a play Gladney has been reliving in his mind for weeks now, the kind that he dreamed about when he first started playing football when he was about 4 years old.
“I love being out there having fun with my teammates,” he said. “A lot of the guys I’m playing with right now, we’ve been teammates since we were little kids. Like, our quarterback, we’ve been on the same team for our whole lives. It’s special being on the same team and the same field with your best friends and sharing the field with them.”
Gladney is one of nearly two dozen Shreveport-Bossier seniors who have been named to the fourth annual National Football Foundation McNaughton Chapter Scholar-Athlete Watch List. Nominees must have at least a 3.2 grade point average, have won all-district honors and be involved in extracurricular activities.
Next spring, one Watch List standout will receive a $1,000 college scholarship award, from those 14 recognized with a Griffin’s Game Ball presented weekly by KTBS and Southern Classic Chicken in honor of the late Bob Griffin, the longtime sports journalist who was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.
Others will be among nominees for eight more $1,000 scholarships issued by the McNaughton Chapter.
Gladney, who has a small obsession with buying and collecting shoes, which he finances by helping to clean his church on occasion, also is a shooting guard on the Airline basketball team. But that sport will have to wait as the Vikings try to put the final win on an undefeated season.
“It feels good,” he said. “A lot of people thought we wouldn’t be good this year because we lost a lot of starters.”
Gladney, whose favorite subject is science and who is considering studying kinesiology at LSU or the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, said he was happy to learn he had made the scholar-athlete list and immediately told his mom, Shelia. Dad is T.K. Gladney, both of Haughton.
“She’s big on stuff like this so that made it even better,” he said. “She was just so proud of me. You know how moms are.”
Contact Lori at sportslyons@gmail.com