Following last year’s rough season, Many Tigers football kicked off 2025 with a 2-1 start under new Head Coach Tyler Hassell with two wins against Logansport and DeRidder before their first loss of the season before the winning streak was stopped this past weekend against Leesville.
Although being dealt the first defeat of the season by the Leesville Wampus Cats 48-15, one can look toward positives, as junior running back Daniel Thomas had 18 carries for 58 yards. Putting up touchdowns during the game were Keelan Maxie and Rodney Waller.
However, looking back the game against the Logansport Tigers offered fans their first glimpse of hope for this season after putting no wins on the board in 2024.
Many had a few stumbles out of the gate, turning possession over own downs on the first possession before a 32 yard pass to Za’kyron Brown had Many down 7-0 at the end of the first quarter. However, that changed quickly when Jonas Hendrickson ran it in from 55 yards to tie the score 7-7. During the next Tiger possession, running back Thomas struck again with a 50 yard run for their second score. At halftime the Many Tigers led 14-13.
The second half was solidly controlled by Many, who saw Thomas score three more touchdowns, leaving the score 35-19 when the final whistle sounded.
Their next game was another runaway victory against the DeRidder Dragons.
Many got on the board early during that game following a 46 yard touchdown from Thomas before Logansport tied it up 7-7 shortly after. Many fired back after Rylan Lee’s fumble return for a touchdown. Many missed the extra point leaving the score 13-7. With under a minute to pay in the first quarter, Camdyn Bell intercepted a pass at DeRidder’s 32 yard line to put the Many offense back on the field. With seven minutes to go in the half, Many’s Keelan Maxie struck with a nineyard rushing touchdown to put the score at 19-7, where it remained until the half ended.
Midway through the third quarter, Thomas struck again with a 35 yard scoring run that brought the score to 257. A fumble recovery on DeRidder’s 14 yard line led to another touchdown by Jonas Hendrickson. Thomas scored another touchdown before Kellen Cox completed a 52 yard pass to Hendrickson for a touchdown making the score 43-21 in favor of Many. The Tiger defense came up big again with a fumble recovery on the Dragon 20 yard line that was soon after ran in from the two yard line by JJ Stills, which capped off the scoring and brought about the final score of 49-21.
This weekend, the Tigers play St. Mary at 7 p.m. in Natchitoches.
(Editor’s Note: Special thanks are always extended to Tina McCormic for allowing us the use of her pictures)