Maroon Tide to face 'talented' Stone Tomcats
Picayune faces a huge challenge on Friday with a road game against the Stone Tomcats at A.L. May Stadium on the campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Perkinston. Maroon Tide Head Coach Dodd Lee knows what his team will be up against when the game starts.
Stone beat Picayune last year 38-31 in double overtime at Picayune's Lee-Triplett Stadium. Picayune had a chance to win that game in regulation, but a fumble inside the Tomcat five yard line forced the game into overtime.
This year's Stone team has a lot of returners from last year.
"They are a very, very talented group. They've got good size, great speed, and will be a challenge for us, " Lee shared on Thursday.
Lee stressed the importance of his defense doing their job.
"With them (Stone), we have got to stay gap sound or they can hurt us in a hurry. It's a challenge with the athletes they have. One mistake and they will score quick," Lee said.
Stone's offense is rushing for 279 yards per game and is led by Kentrell McCray (467 yards, 4 TDs), Jakalyn Green (349 yards, 3 TDs), and Trey Arrington (322 yards, 6 TDs).
Lee commented on the play of junior defensive back Jeremiah Stallings.
"He makes a lot of tackles for us. At 150 pounds, he's real tough kid. Gives us a great effort. When we get out of man coverage, he's back there making the read in zone, basically one on one with him looking at the quarterback's eyes and trying to figure out what he's going to do. He's really improved in that area and he can still get better," Lee shared.
Stallings has 41 tackles (32 solos) and 2 interceptions.
Offensively, the Maroon Tide will face a defense that gave up 62 points last week to unbeaten Hattiesburg. But Lee knows that changes nothing this week.
"We have to be ready and do the things we need to do on offense. That's what it always comes down to for us," he said.
Picayune is averaging 307 yards rushing per game led by Shaun Anderson (835 yards, 9 TDs). The key against Stone may be Tyler Penton. Penton has thrown the ball extremely accurate the past three games and the Maroon Tide may need to throw it more against Stone.
Stone Head Coach John Feaster played for Lee at Picayune and coached under Lee as a defensive assistant and knows a lot about the Picayune offense and would like nothing better than to beat his alma mater two straight years.
The game can be heard on WRJW 1320 AM, wrjwradio.com, the WRJW app, and on the Tune-In app. The broadcast team consists of Carey Meitzler (play by play), Todd Meitzler (color analyst), and Donald Balch (sideline reporter).
You can listen to PRCC Football with Ted Egger (coaches' show) at 6:00pm followed by the SEC Update with Jason Crowder at 6:15pm prior the Paw Paw's Campers & Cars Pregame show which starts at 6:30pm leading up to the kick off at 7:00pm.
