Picayune overcame a 21-7 first-half deficit to score seven second-half touchdowns on its way to a dominating 63-40 home playoff win over George County on Friday.
The Maroon Tide (12-2) advanced to their fourth consecutive South State championship game and will host undefeated Hattiesburg in the contest next week after the Tigers (12-0) bounced Pascagoula from the Class 6A playoffs with a 33-17 win over the Panthers on Friday.
Maroon Tide coach Cody Stogner said his players never doubted they could come back after falling behind so quickly in the first and second quarters.
“It was all about believing we could,” said Stogner.
Picayune fumbled on its first snap of the game and George County recovered at the Maroon Tide 22. Five plays later, quarterback Deuce Knight scored from a yard out. The point after was botched, but the Rebels were on the board first at 6-0.
Another fumble by Picayune gave the Rebels the ball at the Maroon Tide 48 with 2:50 left in the first quarter. A facemask and roughing-the-passer penalty aided the George County drive, and the Rebels capitalized with Knight scoring on a 6-yard run. The Auburn commit then ran in the two-point conversion to put the Rebels up 14-0 in the final seconds of the quarter.
Darrell Smith finally got Picayune on the board with a 35-yard TD run that capped a six-play, 65-yard drive. Edgar Cruz tacked on the point after.
But George County responded with Branden Gautier scoring around the left side from 4 yards out, capping a nine-play, 71-yard drive. Layton Fryfogle’s extra point put the Rebels up 21-7 with just under five minutes to play in the second quarter.
BJ Ducre caught a 27-yard pass from Bam Parker to get Picayune into George County territory. Smith, who ran for 244 yards on the night, followed with a 26-yard run and Triston Cooper scored on a 6-yard run to cap an eight-play, 66-yard drive and the Maroon Tide trailed 21-14 at the half.
Picayune finally got clicking in the second half.
Smith had a run of 45 yards to the George County 22 on the second play of the third quarter. And on fourth-and-11, Parker threw a pass to Ian Herring for a 23-yard touchdown. The extra point was no good and the Tide trailed 21-20.
After a short George County punt on its first drive of the second half, Picayune took over at the Rebels 40. Cooper scored his second TD of the night from the 7 to put the Maroon Tide on top for the first time. Smith ran in the two-point conversion as Picayune took a 28-20 lead.
Turnovers then plagued George County and Picayune capitalized.
The Rebels fumbled the ball on their 39. Five plays later, Smith scored from 13 yards out to push Picayune’s lead to two scores. Cruz’s extra point made it 35-21 with 2:40 left in the quarter.
Another George County fumble bounced right into the arms of Cooper and the Tide took over at the Rebels 18. On the next play, Smith tossed a TD pass to Alan Magee on a seam route. Cruz added the point after and with just over two minutes to play in the quarter, Picayune was now up 42-21.
Knight tallied his third rushing touchdown of the night as George County answered late in the quarter. The 15-yard run culminated a six-play, 59-yard drive. Fryfogle added the extra point to make it 42-28.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Parker busted loose for 62 yards to the George County 5-yard line. A false start backed the Tide up five yards, but it didn’t matter with Smith scoring from 10 yards out. Cruz booted his sixth extra point to give the Tide a 49-28 lead.
Cooper scored on a 3-yard run to cap a six-play, 66-yard drive that pushed the Tide lead to 56-28 with 5:30 to play in the game.
Knight showed off his strong arm with a 60-yard pass to Derrick McNair, who ran the final 10 yards into the end zone for a touchdown. The point after was no good and the score stood at 56-34.
But Cooper answered again for Picayune with his fourth TD of the game—a 51-yard run to push the score to 63-34 with 3:42 to play.
Gautier, who had nearly 200 yards of total offense for George County, scored the final TD on a 3-yard run to make it 63-40 with 1:06 to play. The point after failed.
Picayune has played in seven of the last eight South State championships.
“It’s awesome,” said Stogner about Picayune playing for another South State title. “There’s nothing better than practice during Thanksgiving week. I’m so proud of the players and coaches for getting us here.”
