STONEWALL — The Minden Crimson Tide traveled to North DeSoto on Friday for a match up between two of the top teams in district 1-4A.
Minden entered the game unbeaten in district play with hopes of extending their winning streak to four game, but the Griffins had other plans, riding their stifling defense and run game to a 23-0 win over the Crimson Tide.
It was a less than stellar performance for the Tide offensively, with North DeSoto nearly doubling Minden’s time of possession. The Minden defense stood tall for the first half before fatigue set in and the doomed the Tide.
“First off, I thought our defense played really well,” Crimson Tide head Coach Spencer Heard said. “They had the ball for a little over 31 minutes of the game. Almost double the time that we had it. At some point when your defense is out there that long they’re going to get tired. On the other side of the ball we weren’t very sharp. We struggled against their defensive scheme and we had a few missed opportunities. I thought they did a good job taking away our run. We have to get better offensively.”
It was a disappointing loss for the Crimson Tide, but shouldn’t affect the Tide’s district or playoff chances. Minden High is still in solid position at 3-1 in district and controls their own destiny with three more district games upcoming.
“I told the team after the game that we have to put this one behind us and move on to the next game,” Heard said. “We’ve got another big challenge right in front of us and we have to get ready to play another tough game next week.”
The tough game Heard is referring to is next week’s clash with Benton. Benton is 6-1 on the season and brings an unblemished district record into the contest. Minden will be on the road once again hoping for a better outcome.
“Benton is a very good team,” Heard said. “They play very good defense all the way around and their offense has been coming around the past two weeks. They got a big win and scored some points last week against Loyola. We’ll get back to work this week and break down their film and try to get better next week and score some points.”
Minden was led in the game offensively by Rodtravion Rogers who carried six times for 50 yards. Antonio Rivette carried eight times for 16 yards and Tavarius Edwards carried twice for 15 yards and caught five passes for 34 yards on the night.
Rivette finished 7-21 passing for 66 yards.