GeauxPreps Week 2 Thursday Night Road Trip: Mazyck Magic on Display for DeRidder
by Marshall Loeffler // GeauxPreps.com
DeRidder – Brad Parmley took over the DeRidder job from his father, Eric, and after 20 years on the Dragons’ staff (12 as head coach), he now gets to help design plays with his son, Michael, running the huddle. Dad (Eric) still breaks down film, and even Michael’s little brother is known to accompany the head man (Brad) during postgame interviews and game days.
So it made sense that my first trip to DeRidder to see the brand-new turf field would be all about family and the friendly confines of that stadium. The Dragons put on a bell-to-bell domination of Many High School, who brought in a 2,000-yard rusher and a championship-trained coaching staff. DeRidder won the toss, deferred, got the ball back quickly, and went to work in their new turf cleats from there, never looking back.
Jaiden Cooper ran power for a 69-yard touchdown run about three minutes into the game. Ayren Woods, Paxton Romine and Tyrel Silva stopped Many’s split-back duo of Daniel Thomas and JJ Stills (who each scored once on long plays) from finding a rhythm and forcing a fumble on the second drive. Parmley worked out of the shotgun most of the time and used the pop-pass play often, with Jayden Meriwether turning the corner on one and scoring a 76-yard touchdown.
The next drive was where the player of the night stepped up. Many was in the red zone, but Daniel Mazyck jumped up and snatched a pass, returning it 90 yards for a touchdown. Luis Rodriguez made all of his extra-point attempts on the night to help the scoring, but it was all about Mazyck for the rest of the evening.
On the very next drive, Cooper had to exit the game, so Mazyck stepped in on second down and ran up the middle for a 55-yard touchdown, blowing the game open in the first half. After a few back-and-forth drives, it was Mazyck Magic one more time, as he jumped a slot receiver and picked up another 43-yard interception return touchdown. He told me after the game that he woke up ready for those moments.
“It was a big night with the new field and the blackout jerseys, but we knew we had to take care of business and do what we do best. I was ready for that all day.” He gave a lot of credit to the DeRidder front seven, saying, “Without them getting pressure, I couldn’t have done what I did today. I’m thankful for them. Coach Parm talked to us about trust this week; we believed in that, and so now we are just ready to do that again next week here on our field.”
Mason Havens added a short third-quarter touchdown, and a few drives later, Michael Parmley took off on a scramble for a 29-yard touchdown run. His father and head coach was understandably very proud of the program that has embraced his family and watched him build a fantastic football program.
“I’m not sure who has a better stadium in our division now. With the atmosphere we have, it helped our defense play lights-out tonight. I think our offense really responded to that, and it’s just a great day to be a Dragon,” Coach Parmley said after the game, with both of his tired, proud sons by his side.