Triston Cooper accounted for three first-quarter touchdowns as Picayune jumped out to a 28-0 lead at home and never looked back in routing rival Pearl River Central 48-7 in the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs on Friday.
“Win and advance,” said Maroon Tide coach Cody Stogner after the victory. “That was the goal at the beginning of the week. Back to 0-0 and the same goal.”
Picayune (10-2) will host another familiar foe in the next round of the playoffs when George County comes back to Lee-Triplett Stadium. The Rebels, who fell to the Maroon Tide 27-20 two weeks ago in a Region 4-6A game, knocked off West Jones 26-22 in Soso on Friday.
“Tough playing a good team twice,” said Stogner of the rematch with George County (7-5). “We’re going to have to have the best week of preparation.”
Picayune certainly looked focused and prepared against the Blue Devils.
Cooper ran around the right side 30 yards for his first touchdown to put Picayune on the board first. Edgar Cruz added the point after to make it 7-0. The touchdown capped a seven-play, 59-yard drive.
On the first play of the Maroon Tide’s next possession, Darrell Smith took a toss and raced untouched down the visitors sideline for a 58-yard touchdown run. Cruz booted the extra point and Picayune pushed its lead to 14-0 with 6:28 to play in the opening quarter.
Cooper then picked off a pass by Titus Feaster and walked into the end zone from the PRC 3 for the third Maroon Tide touchdown of the quarter.
“We watch film a lot and I thought it was coming,” said Cooper. “I jumped for it and it fell in my hands.”
PRC’s Myles Alford made a great defensive play to stop Smith from scoring on a 40-yard run, but two plays later, Cooper scored his third TD, this also from the 3. Cruz tacked on the point after with two minutes left in the quarter.
Feaster, a Blue Devils freshman, busted off a 20-yard quarterback run and two 15-yard penalties on Picayune on the play pushed the ball to the Maroon Tide 12. One of the penalties resulted in a Tide player being ejected.
On the first play of the second quarter, the Blue Devils got on the board when Kyle Morrison scored on a reverse from 10 yards out. Bryce Tarter added the extra point to cap a six-play, 75-yard drive.
But Cooper and the Maroon Tide answered again with a 3-yard touchdown run with 6:40 to play in the first half. It was Cooper’s fourth TD of the half. The point after from Cruz made it 35-7 and capped a six-play, 57-yard drive.
“We just had a great last week of practice,” said Cooper. “I appreciate Coach Stogner for giving me the opportunity.”
The Blue Devils turned the ball over on downs at their own 41 with about six minutes to play in the second quarter.
On the next play, Picayune’s Xavier Dennis reversed his way around right end for a touchdown and the extra point made it 42-7.
PRC, in the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade, ended its season at 2-8.
“We didn’t play as good as we could play,” said PRC’s Garrett Ouder, one of just five seniors on the Blue Devils roster. “We didn’t win many games, but that’s how life is sometimes. We’re passing the torch to the next generation of players and maybe they can get it done.”
Picayune went deep into its bench with plenty of backups seeing action in the second half.
With 9:48 to play on a running clock, Jamari Hathorne scored from a yard out as the Maroon Tide extended their lead to 48-7. The point after was no good.
“We handled business and did what they were supposed to do,” said Stogner. “We set the tone early and worked for all 48 minutes.”
