Lucedale — The George County Rebels opened Region 4-6A play with a dominating performance over Long Beach in an impressive 48-7 win Friday night.
The Rebels got four touchdowns from Deuce Knight in the first half and cruised to the easy victory. Knight had 28-yard touchdown passes to Marlon Odom and Caysen Powell on the Rebel’s first two possessions and added a 39-yard strike to Montrell Dortch and a 16-yard run as the Rebels led 27-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Branden Gautier added a 10 yard TD run and the defense added a Kohl Bradley 1-yard fumble recovery and a 100-yard interception return by Marlon Odom to lead 48-0 at the half.
Ronnie Brown had a 10-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter as Long Beach avoided the shutout.
George County stands 5-2 overall (1-0) and travels to Hancock next week while Long Beach is 2-5 (1-0) and hosts Pascagoula.
Also, both George County and Hattiesburg have both been fined and put on disciplinary probation by the Mississippi High School Activities Association according to sources.
MHSAA executive director Rickey Neaves confirmed to The Hattiesburg American the news after the two teams were involved in a skirmish after the Tigers’ overtime win in Lucedale last week.
There were no suspensions due to the lack of clarity on who specifically was involved, Neaves said. The MHSAA has two different types of probation it can hand out: disciplinary or restrictive. Disciplinary, which was given to both schools, can turn into a restrictive probation if another violation is made. Restrictive probation would result in the violating team being ineligible to participate in the playoffs.
George County head coach James Ray told the American “Just that it is unfortunate that it happened. That our security plan was in place and worked to get it under control in a timely matter.”
Laurel 14, Stone 12
The Tomcats came up just short on a two-point conversion in the final two minutes of play as the Golden Tornadoes escaped with a win in the Region 4-5Aopener for both squads.
Daylon Collins had a short touchdown run for Stone, and Willie Breland caught a touchdown toss from Conner Tice as well. Breland had a big game for the Tomcats as he not only had the scoring catch, but he also had a fumble recovery and a pair of interceptions defensively including one deep in Tomcat territory just before halftime that kept the game tied up at 6-6 headed into the second half.
Stone stands 2-4 overall and 0-1 in league play, while Laurel is 1-0 and also 2-4 overall.
Harrison Central 17, St. Martin 13
The Red Rebels bounced back from their first loss of the year to pick up a hard-fought road win over the Yellow Jackets Friday night.
The game was the Region 4-7A opener for both teams. HCHS is now 6-1 overall, while SMHS drops to 0-6.
The Red Rebels trailed 13-10 in the fourth quarter, but scored the game-winning touchdown with right at five minutes left to pull out the win. Red Rebel quarterback Tri Gaughf completed 18 passes for 217 yards while rushing for 32 yards and a touchdown. St. Martin signal-caller Logan Jeffreys threw for 179 yards and two touchdowns in the losing effort and Noreel White hauled in six of those catches for 117 yards and both touchdowns.
Bay High 37, Moss Point 34
Bay High running back Benny Williams rushed for 229 yards and two touchdowns as the Tigers opened Region 8-4A play with an exciting win over the other Tigers.
Jaylen Antoine also enjoyed a big game in the win, as he ran for right at 200 yards as well as a pair of touchdowns, and he also converted three two-point conversions.
St. Stanislaus 23, Tylertown 6
Rock-A-Chaw quarterback Ian Gonzalez Rioz and SSC tailback Isaiah Haynes proved to be a dynamic backfield duo in the Region 8-3A win Friday night over the Chiefs.
Rioz rushed for 134 yards and a touchdown while Haynes added 103 yards and a touchdown on the ground in the winning effort.
Also, Rock kicker Evan Noel connected on three field goals, a pair of long ones from 49 yards out and one from 38 yards as well as SSC moved to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in league play.
Here are other scores from Friday night:
Forest Hill 30, Pearl River Central 27
Resurrection 36, Enterprise-Lincoln 6
West Marion 40, St. Patrick 7
St. Stanislaus 23, Tylertown
Wayne County 37, East Central 14
