BILOXI — Pascagoula made its 99th all-time meeting with longtime Mississippi Gulf Coast rival Biloxi one to remember Friday night.
The visiting Panthers bounced back from their first loss of the season to hand the Indians their first home loss of the season 27-7 at the Biloxi Sports Complex. In the process, Pascagoula moves to 4-1 on the season, and Biloxi drops to 2-3.
“Our defense played a phenomenal game in holding that offense to seven points,” veteran Pascagoula head coach Lewis Sims said, amidst a jubilant lockerroom. “What a great way to bounce back after that loss last week. We have some injuries and we had some guys step up and fill some holes and we really fought toe-to-tow with a good team and came out with a big win.”
The Panthers took a lead they would never relinquish mid-way through the first frame, when junior quarterback Silas Corder found senior wide reciever Bruce Fryfogle on a 7-yard touchdown toss.
Sims’ squad would double that advantage before intermission, as Corder found Darrius Carter wide open over the middle on a third and long play for a 68-yard scoring strike with just over two minutes to play in the second stanza. Tanks Bishop’s second extra point of the first half made to count 14-0 at halftime.
With thoughts of winning their third game in as many tries at home this season, the Indians fought back a bit in the third quarter when Senior signal-caller Zach Marlin hooked up with Triston Haynes on a 26-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit in half and make it 14-7 with just over four minutes to play in the period.
But Pascagoula was not interested at all in Biloxi’s home win streak, as Corder nailed Christan Campbell on a 69-yard pass to the Indians 8-yard line several plays later and then Amarie Jackson covered that distance on the next snap to make it 20-7.
Pascagoula tallied the only points in the final frame, on a 58-yard Corder to Jahkobian Maye scoring pass to complete the scoring.
Codre finished with the three scoring strikes and threw for well over 250 yards.
The Panthers are off to their first 4-1 start in a decade, and will enjoy an open week next week before beginning Region 4-6A play the following week.
“This should really give us some confidence going into our open week,” Sims concluded. “But we’re 0-0 from here on out no matter what happened up to this point.”
The Indians will travel to Mobile, Ala., to face LeFlore High next week and will kick off Region 4-7A play the following week.
