The Plain Dealing Lions played the Haynesville Golden Tornado pretty much even in the first half of their District 1-1A opener Friday night in Haynesville.
Plain Dealing went into the locker room down just 8-0, but the second half was a disaster for the Lions and the Tors pulled away for a 48-24 victory.
Two key players, running back/linebacker Ladavious Scott (shoulder) and running back/defensive back Ardrevious Washington-Carper (knee), went down with injuries that will probably end their seasons, head coach James Thurman said.
Two other two-way players suffered less serious injuries that could keep them out of next week’s game.
Plain Dealing dressed just 23 players Friday night.
“I don’t know where we go from here,” he said. “We’re going to have to regroup who we’re going to have next week. We’ll see where we go from there. I’m not real sure at this point. I told people when we started the season that I felt like we could win six to eight ball games or we could not finish the season. Depends on how it goes. There is no telling.”
Plain Dealing dropped to 2-2. Haynesville, a perennial Class 1A power, improved to 1-3.
The Tors rolled to a big lead in the second half. The Lions scored late. Darrien Perry, continuing his outstanding season, returned a kickoff for a touchdown and caught a TD pass from Ken Gay.
Thurman didn’t see the scores from the sideline. He was ejected in the third quarter.
The Lions had a promising drive stall early in the game because of penalties.
“We killed ourself early,” Thurman said.
He said the injuries took their toll in the second half.
“I felt like we lost a little momentum and the kids started hanging their heads a little bit,” he said.
Haynesville came into the game winless, but two of the losses were to Class 3A North Webster and Class 4A Minden.
“They’re a good football team,” Thurman said. “I tried to tell everybody, look, we’d be 0-3 with that schedule. It’s still Haynesville. They’re right there on par with the rest of our district outside of Calvary.”
Plain Dealing continues district play Friday at Arcadia. The Hornets (0-4) lost to Homer 48-6 Friday night.
