Picayune beats Poplarville 21-13 in season opener
Audio replay of the Game (Click Here)
Picayune—Picayune’s formula for success has never deviated from run the ball, swarm to the ball on defense, and give maximum effort. Those ingredients and one pass completion enabled the Maroon Tide to beat Poplarville 21-13 on Friday night at Lee-Triplett Stadium.
Picayune turned the ball over on downs on its first possession with the Hornets taking over at the Picayune 45. However, the defense stopped Poplarville when Amarion Tyson recovered a fumble at the Picayune 8.
After the two teams, exchanged punts, the Maroon Tide struck quickly on a 53 touchdown pass from Dawson Underwood to Jessiah Contee with 1:34 left in the first quarter. Morgan Craft kicked the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
The Hornets responded with five play drive of 63 yards with the touchdown coming via a 15 yard touchdown pass from Matthew Will to Maurice Travis. Zachary Carpenter’s point after tied the game at 7-7 with 11:55 left in the second quarter.
Picayune scored on its possession after the Hornet kickoff with 13 play 73 yard drive with Dorian Robinson scoring on a 3 yard run. Craft split the uprights with 4:37 left before the half.
Photos by Randy Brown/WRJW
Dorian Robinson (5) runs through a nice opening behind Underwood (7)
Poplarville scored the first points of the second half on a Lawrence Jamison 31 yard run with 6:10 left in the third quarter. The point after attempt was no good as the snap on the conversion was low.
Leading 14-13, Picayune scored on its next possession with a 14 play 77 yard drive. Underwood scored on a 1 yard sneak and Craft was again perfect on the extra point to make it 21-13 with 10:10 left in the game.
Dante Dowdell (2) running behind Ryan Pascal (73) and Gage Thibodeaux (57)
Poplarville took the Maroon Tide ensuing kickoff and move the ball to the Picayune 23 on fourteen plays, but an incomplete pass on fourth down gave the ball back to the Maroon Tide.
Picayune converted a first down and was able to run out the clock to get the win.
Head Coach Cody Stogner was overjoyed with the effort from his team.
“We beat a great football team. Our guys just kept battling and they showed some guts. We started five sophomores on defense. We can still get better,” Stogner stated.
Donte Dowdell had 91 yards on 24 carries while Robison had 9 rushes for 56 yard. Underwood ran for 37 yards on 10 carries.
Picayune is scheduled to host Jefferson Davis County on Friday.
