The Bay High Tigers (1-2) got their first win of the season on the road against Long Beach (0-3) on Friday. The Tigers’ defense played a huge part in the 60-41 win, scoring on four defensive plays.
The Tigers snapped a nine-game losing streak with the scoring outburst. The Bearcats are still mired in a state-wide best losing streak that reached 29 games on the field Friday night and 32 games (three forfeits) overall.
The Tigers’ defense scored on three fumble recoveries and a blocked punt. Alex Harris scored on a 43-yard fumble recovery; Avery Harris scored on a 39-yard recovery, and Benny Williams scored on a 21-yard recovery. Alex Harris also blocked a punt, and Jerramie Keys recovered it and carried five yards for the score.
“We played well on defense,” said Bay High coach Jeremy Turcotte. “Our defense swarmed the football all night and made dome huge plays. We had some young kids to step up for injured players, and their effort was incredible.”
Avery Harris also had an interception to go along with a fumble recovery for a score.
Turcotte said that going into the game he felt that he would be able to run the ball. And he was so right about that. The Tigers would amass 390 rushing yards on the night. The Tigers were led by Benny Williams with 227 yards on just ten carries and four touchdowns, scoring a total of five touchdowns in the game.
“It was almost like Willie Totten (Mississippi Valley State University quarterback during Jerry Rice era),” said Turcotte of the up and down the field, high-scoring game. “It was the craziest game.
“The only thing that stopped us was us shooting ourselves in the foot,” said Turcotte. We had miscues on special teams, setting them up on short fields. And they capitalized, scoring all seven of their touchdowns on big plays. They would not go away.”
Long Beach would have two rushers to go over 100 yards on the night as Andre Windham and Edjuan Troutman both had huge nights. Quarterback Will Brady came back from a first-half suspension to throw two touchdown passes. Jr. Brown scored three touchdowns for the Bearcats, but in the end, their efforts were not enough to overcome the turnovers.
“Too many mistakes,” said Long Beach coach Jacob Massey. “We spotted them 28 points. You just can’t give up that many points on turnovers and expect to win.”
Long Beach led 14-12 at the end of the first quarter, but the Tigers took the lead on their first possession of the second quarter, and they rolled from that point, scoring 32 points in the quarter to take a 46-28 lead into halftime.
Freshman Jayden Allen added 105 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. Devin Jones added 42 yards rushing on six carries. Quarterback Xander Ladner completed three of five passes
The Tigers will attempt to make it two wins in a row as they play West Harrison at home next Friday. Long Beach will go after their first win of the season on the road at Purvis.
