By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
NATCHITOCHES – Friday’s visit to play winless Natchitoches Central shaped up as a breather for Airline, but it left the Vikings breathless.
And angry. At themselves.
Airline (4-1) won its District 1-5A opener but had to recover an onside kick to do it, after NCHS (0-5) drove 98 yards and hit a two-point conversion to close within 32-29 with 14 seconds remaining.
It was the last leak in the final five minutes as the plucky Chiefs, going without 10 injured starters, nearly erased an 18-point deficit by scoring on its last two series.
“I told our kids before the game, they’re definitely good enough to beat us. And they almost pulled it off,” said Vikings’ fifth-year coach Justin Scogin.
Give the Chiefs their due, he said, but coming off a costly fourth-quarter collapse a week earlier when a two-score lead evaporated and Franklin Parish roared back to a 54-43 win, Airline’s district debut had some unpleasant deja’ vu.
“It was ugly,” said Scogin. “We had a letdown last week and tonight we didn’t have enough energy in the first half. It was like we were still reeling over last week. We picked it up a little bit in the second half. We didn’t really continue that all the way through the fourth quarter, though.”
“I don’t know what happened. We were sloppy all around. Defense, offense, special teams. It wasn’t good, but we picked it up,” said senior offensive lineman Joe Thrash.
They did. After a scoreless first quarter – a rarity for an Airline offense averaging 43 points this and most seasons – it wasn’t until the second half that the Vikings began clicking.
NCHS took its second lead, 14-13, cashing in its first possession after halftime, but the visitors responded with touchdowns on its first two series, driving 82 and 84 yards to take control 25-14 when Nathan White swept around the right side on a 20-yarder with two minutes to go in the third quarter.
It overcame a first half performance stymied by dropped passes and erratic execution, the latter which has plagued the Vikings through the first half of 2026.
“It was terrible, but if we catch the easy stuff, we throw another 2-3 touchdowns on the board,” said Scogin. “That’s something we pride ourselves on, being precise and consistent, and we’ve gotten away from that. We’re very inconsistent. We’ve gotta be better at that.”
But then, there’s the flip side, when Airline strung together chunk plays to take control.
“We were rolling and rolling, rolling, like a snowball thing,” said Thrash. “It was fun. Came out of here with a win.”
Not without stress at the end.
“We have stuff to work on,” said Scogin, “but it’s always nice to work on them when you win.
“Defensively, we played pretty well, but offensively, it was by far our worst. We did a good job in the second half, (but) late in the game, we still kind of sputtered, even up front,” he said. “We weren’t able to run the ball in key situations, but nonetheless, we were able to do enough to win tonight, and go back and keep practicing and try to get better.”
They only got by Friday night.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com