The Airline Vikings opened District 1-5A play with a 50-38 victory over Byrd Friday night at Byrd.
In the other 1-5A openers, Haughton fell to defending champion Natchitoches Central 64-31 at Haughton, Benton lost to Huntington 65-36 at Huntington and Captain Shreve defeated Evangel Christian 50-41 at Evangel.
At Byrd, Eli Washington led Airline (10-9) with 18 points. Kevin White chipped in 12. Jusdan Gladney and Rylon Bailey had seven each. Isaiah Cunningham scored six.
Bailey scored all of his points in the first quarter as the Vikings raced to a 13-2 lead.
The Yellow Jackets got going offensively in the second quarter but Airline led 26-15 at the half.
Byrd rallied in the third quarter and cut the deficit to 33-26. But Washington stepped up with nine points in the fourth.
Azariae Barfield and Peyton Speckman led Byrd (8-11) with 16 points each. Barfield hit four 3-pointers.
Airline hosts Evangel Tuesday.
At Haughton, the Bucs dropped to 9-9. Natchitoches Central improved to 16-2.
At Benton, the Tigers fell to 9-9. Huntington improved to 11-6.