The George County Rebels welcomed back Deuce Knight on Friday night in Long Beach and the all-star quarterback helped lead the Rebels to a 48-13 win over the Bearcats in the Region 4-6A opener for both teams.
Knight, the now Auburn commit, was seeing his first action since being injured in Week 3 of the season. He finished with five total touchdowns, including four passing.
After the game began, it looked like it was going to be a shootout as Long Beach scored on its second play from scrimmage.
Andre Windham took a pitch 69 yards for a touchdown, and less than a minute into the game, the Bearcats led 7-0.
After an onside kick attempt, the Rebels answered in two plays.
Knight connected with Brenn Moody from 45 yards out for a touchdown, and before the crowd could get settled into their seats, the game was tied at 7.
After a punt by the Bearcats, the Long Beach defense responded and Brody Peeler intercepted a Knight pass. Peeler rumbled down inside the George County 10, setting up Will Brady’s 8-yard touchdown toss to Rashad Foxworth. The extra point was blocked by the Rebels’ Tyneke Davis, but the Bearcats led 13-7.
George County would then score 41 unanswered points.
Knight capped a 60-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run and Layton Fryfogle’s extra point gave the Rebels a 14-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.
George County put the game away with a 21-point second quarter.
Moody made his second touchdown catch, which was from 12 yards out, to extend the lead to 21-13 halfway through the second quarter.
Montrell Dortch took a Knight pass from 10 yards out for a touchdown to make it 28-13 with 2:37 left in the first half and Dortch added a 17-yard touchdown run with 23 seconds to go to make it 35-13 at halftime.
After an onside kick attempt and two 15-yard penalties on the Bearcats to open the second half, Dortch added his third touchdown on a 17-yard pitch-and-catch from Knight.
George County closed out the scoring with seven minutes to go in the third quarter as Brendan Gautier capped a drive with a touchdown from 1 yard out.
Gautier finished with 100 yards on 15 carries.
The 48-13 score meant the remainder of the game was played with a running clock.
Knight was 9-of-12 passing for 209 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.
Moody had three catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns. Dortch accounted for 52 yards on three catches, two for touchdowns, as well as his 17-yard scoring run.
The Rebels defense had two sacks and seven tackles for loss and limited Long Beach to less than 150 yards of total offense.
Windham was a bright spot for the Bearcats, carrying the ball four times for 64 yards and a touchdown and catching three passes for 21 yards.
Brady was 5-of-8 for 33 yards, including the touchdown toss to Foxworth.
Long Beach (2-5 overall, 0-1 in the region) will travel to Pascagoula next week while George County (4-3, 1-0) will host Hancock as region play continues.
