Matt Vines

COUSHATTA – The Red River football team got off to a much-needed quick start, but the Bulldogs couldn’t sustain that momentum in a 43-22 loss to Many on Friday.

Red River (1-6, 0-2 District 4-2A), and its nine seniors, didn’t walk away with the victory on Senior Night, which is also the final home of game of the season.

The Bulldogs turned to their air attack to start things off as quarterback Ashton Johnson connected with senior Landon Wilson from 30 yards out for the game’s first score.

Wilson jumped over a Many defensive back to secure the touchdown, proof that all is well for the all-district receiver who has missed the majority of the season and returned this past week mostly in a running back role.

Many (2-5, 1-0) scored the next two touchdowns on J.J. Stills rushing scores, the second of which was set up by a Red River turnover on their own 5-yard line as the Tigers built a 15-8 lead.

Johnson flashed his running ability on a 15-yard scamper for a score, pulling the Bulldogs to within 15-14.

Many stud running back Daniel Thomas, who has more than 3,000 rushing yards in his career, took a direct snap 52 yards right before the half to push Many’s edge to 22-14.

Thomas was the team’s most effective passer this past week in an overtime loss at Avoyelles, but freshman quarterback Luke McCarty had his best week of the season.

McCarty connected on scoring passes of 35 yards to Keelan Maxie and another to Johnathon Winfield as Many scored the first three touchdowns of the second half for a 43-14 lead.

“We’ve got to get back to the drawing board,” Red River coach Travis Gary said in a KTBS postgame interview. “There’s a lot of things to fix.”

Entering the game, McCarty had just one touchdown pass all season on 9-35 passing with seven interceptions.

“(Red River) came in talking about stopping the run, but I felt like we did a pretty good job of throwing the ball tonight,” said Many coach Tyler Hassell, who was part of Red River’s district title in 2024 as an assistant. “The biggest thing for us is getting our confidence back.”

Red River scored the final touchdown to bring the final to 43-22.

Many has won two straight in the series, including this past season’s first round playoff game.

If the Bulldogs are to make the playoffs, they’ll need to get it done on the road.

Red River’s final three games are at defending district champion Mansfield, at a Lakeside team that beat Winnfield on Friday, and at a Loyola Prep program that features one of Shreveport’s best offenses.

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