Maroon Tide pulls away from Wayne County 60-33

Picayune--Picayune opened Region 4-5A play with a 60-33 win over Wayne County at Lee-Triplett Stadium behind two special team touchdowns and a solid performance by the defense.

The Maroon Tide scored the first three times they had the ball to build a 20-0 lead. The first score was a 1 yard run by quarterback Jakail Myers capping off a 7 play 70 yard drive, the second a 3 yard run by fullback Kade Turnage on 6 play 60 yard drive, and the third touchdown was a 20 yard run by wingback Kaleb Hart. Issac Brice made two of the three point after attempts.

Wayne County turned the ball over on downs on its first two possessions. On their third possession, a bad snap to the punter turned into a scoop and score touchdown for the Maroon Tide when Elijah Jenkins picked up the loose ball and ran 30 yards for the touchdown to make it 27-0 with 6:30 left in the second quarter.

The War Eagles got on the scoreboard the next time they had the ball on a 50 yard touchdown run by Zhakerreun Wesley with 5:40 left in the half. Picayune’s Dylan Schaubhut blocked the extra point.

Picayune answered with a good kickoff return by Cameron Thomas to the Tide 47. Six plays later Jairice Travis scored on a 7 yard run and it was 33-6 with 2:12 left after Picayune missed the point after attempt.

Wesley scored on Wayne County’s next possession running for 23 yards on first down and then scoring the touchdown from 25 yards out with 1:28 left. The two point conversion was unsuccessful making it 33-12.

The Maroon Tide moved the ball down into field goal range, but missed a 25 yard attempt with 9 seconds left in the half.

Wayne County scored on the first possession of the second half on a 7 play 70 yard drive with Wesley scoring from 14 yards out, but the point after was wide right and Picayune led 33-18.

Picayune’s Curdevone Jackson returned the ensuing kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown and the point after by Issac Brice made it 40-18 with 8:19 left in the third quarter.

Wayne County right back scoring on a 6 yard touchdown pass from Wesley to Brevin Gandy and the point after was good to cut the Maroon Tide lead to 40-25.

Picayune fumbled the ball on their next possession, but Wayne County was unable to take advantage of it when the Maroon Tide defense stopped Wesley a yard short of a first down at the Picayune 12 yard line.

The Maroon Tide marched the 88 yards in 8 plays with Hart scoring on a 36 yard run and Brice made the point after for a 47-25 lead with 9:10 left in the game.

Picayune’s defense held Wayne County again on downs when Kyle Stockstill stopped the runner short of the first down on third down and an incomplete pass on fourth down allowed the Maroon Tide offense to take over at the Picayune 49.

Six plays later, Winston Drain bulled his way in from 5 yards and Brice’s point after made it 54-25 with 4:05 left.

Wayne County scored on a 44 yard run by Kelnevious Walley with 2:28 left and converted the two point conversion to make it 54-33.

Picayune closed out the scoring with Travis busting loose for a 42 yard run with 1:36 left in the game. The point after was wide right to make the final score

60-33.

Maroon Tide's Dodd Lee and WRJW's Carey Meitzler adter the game

Jortin Raine paced the Maroon Tide offense with 190 yards on 20 carries while Travis had 84 yards on 9 carries. Hart had 75 yards on 4 rushes.Wesley finished with 19 rushes for 237 yards and Walley added 78 yards on 11 carries.

Picayune (3-2, 1-0) will travel to West Harrison next week while Wayne County (3-2, 0-1) will host Pearl River Central in Waynesboro.