Picayune swamps Gautier Gators 56-21
WRJW's Carey Meitzler with Head Coach Dodd Lee after Gautier game.
Gautier--Picayune set the tone early taking advantage of excellent field position in their 56-21 win over the Gautier Gators at Vaughn-Wallace Stadium.
A short Gautier punt on the first possession of the game gave the Maroon Tide the ball at the Gator 21 and Picayune scored on its first play on a 21 yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Tyler Penton to wide receiver Ronald Polk for a 7-0 lead after Sami Nagi's extra point.
The Maroon Tide got the ball back at their own 28 after the Gators turned the ball over on downs. Brian Taylor ran for 40 yards on the first play and Shaun Anderson scored four plays later on a 1 yard run to push the score to 14-0 with Nagi's point after.
All photos by Carey Meitzler
David Baker (11) looks a hole and scores on 4 yard touchdown run
V.J. Holt (17) gets the handoff from Tyler Penton (9)
Another Gator punt gave the ball back to Picayune at the Gautier 43. Four plays later, David Baker scored on a 28 yard run and Nagi kicked the extra point for a 21-0 lead with 1:32 left in the first quarter.
Anderson scored again on a 36 yard run with 8:57 left in the second quarter and Nagi converted the PAT. On the next possession for the Maroon Tide, Penton threw a 30 yard touchdown pass to V.J. Holt and Austin Samples kicked the extra point to make it 35-0 with 4:58 left in the half.
Jeremiah Stallings picked up a fumble and returned it 12 yards for a touchdown early in the third quarter and Samples kicked the extra point to make it 42-0 with 9:17 left in the third quarter.
Gautier ( 3-7, 2-4) scored on an 8 yard run by Dalyn McDonald and Picayune answered with a 4 yard touchdown run by Baker to make it 49-7 with :43 left in the third quarter after the Samples point after.
Tyler Penton (right) hands off to David Baker against Gautier
Brian Taylor talks with WRJW's Carey Meitzler after the Gautier game.
McDonald threw a 37 yard touchdown pass to Makael Calhoun with 9:19 left in the game for Gautier. Picayune got their last touchdown on a 17 yard run by Holt with 7:53 left and Samples made the extra point. McDonald completed the scoring with a 14 yard touchdown pass to Daylan Ray with 5:06 left.
Shaun Anderson (20) looks for a seam against Gautier
Baker ran for 148 yards on 20 carries and Anderson had 10 rushes for 143 yards. Holt had 4 carries for 107 yards. McDonald led Gautier with 146 yards rushing and threw for 117 yards.
Picayune (8-2, 5-1) will host Pearl River Central on Friday in the regular season finale before entering the playoffs the following week as the 2nd seed.
