Laurel rallies past Maroon Tide 42-35
Picayune—The Laurel Golden Tornadoes scored the last fourteen points of the game to beat Picayune 42-35 at Lee-Triplett Stadium in the 1st round of the Class 5A South State Playoffs.
Picayune scored on their first possession on a 1 yard run by senior quarterback Tyler Penton, but Laurel answered with 21 yard run by Zias Perryman with 4:17 left in the quarter, but missed the extra point making it 7-6.
The Maroon Tide took the lead on a 2 yard run by Shaun Anderson with 5:24 left in the half to lead 14-7 after Sami Nagi’s point after.
Laurel scored on their next possession on a 1 yard by Perryman and Juan Lechuga's extra point made it 14-13.
The Maroon Tide scored on their next possession on a 5 yard touchdown pass from Penton to Anderson to take a 21-13 lead with :47 left.
All photos by Randy Brown
Shaun Anderson (20) runs behind Tyler Penton (9) & Brian Taylor (33)
The Golden Tornadoes came right back with junior quarterback Sinclair Ulmer connecting on three consecutive pass of 45, 10 , and 10 yards, with the last one a touchdown pass to Brandon Gordon with :13 left. Laurel converted the two point conversion on a pass from Ulmer to Gordon to tie the game at 21-21.
Picayune took the second half kickoff and went 64 yards on 10 plays with senior fullback Brian Taylor scoring on 6 yard run to put the Maroon Tide up 28-21.
After an exchange of punts, Laurel scored another quick touchdown in just two plays with touchdown coming on 40 yard run with :53 left in the third quarter to tie it up 28-28.
Brian Taylor scoring his six yard touchdown
After another exchange of punts, Picayune took the lead on a 49 yard run by Anderson with 7:22 left, but Laurel rally again to tie the game on a 13 yard pass from Ulmer to Gordon with 6:13 left.
Picayune’s next possession was halted at the Laurel 39 on Levi Walker’s interception. Laurel then drove for the winning score using seven plays to cover the 61 yards with the touchdown coming on a 7 yard run by Perryman with 1:45 left to give the Golden Tornadoes a 42-35 lead.
David Baker (11) runs for a first down
The Maroon Tide moved the ball across midfield, but fumbled the ball after a pass reception. Laurel got the ball with :58 left. Picayune was able to hold Laurel, use its timeouts, and get the ball back with :12 left at their own 20. An incomplete pass and an interception ended the game.
For Laurel, Ulmer completed 13 of 22 passes for 208 yards and ran 5 times for 106 yards. Perryman had 14 rushes for 87 yards.
Anderson had 27 rushes for 240 yards. Penton completed 6 of 12 for 127 yards. Picayune finishes the season at 9-3.
Laurel (8-4) will host Brookhaven next week.
