Going into the fourth quarter at Francis McDonald Stadium on Friday night, the Pass Christian Pirates outpaced the dominant offense of the Greene County Wildcats with a 25-20 lead.
The Pirates, however, couldn’t not hang on, committing two straight turnovers that led to Greene County touchdowns in the final minute to secure a 33-25 Wildcats victory.
The Wildcats (5-1, 1-0) won their opening Region 8-4A contest, but not without a fight as Pass Christian (3-3, 0-1) forced six turnovers (three interceptions, two turnovers on downs and a fumble) and controlled the time of possession for most of the game.
Greene County barely finished with more than 300 yards of offense despite coming in averaging 44 points a game.
“I thought our effort was really good and I thought our guys are playing hard,” said Jeff Stockstill, the second-year Pass Christian coach who came in after winning two straight state championships at Scott Central. “Defensively, I thought we played really well as we turned over an exceptional quarterback multiple times.
“Offensively, we gave the other team some points on the board this week and last against Northeast Jones. If we could just capitalize on some third downs, that may be the difference in the game.”
For the Pirates, a botched punt, two turnovers on downs, a fumble on a sack and an interception all led to touchdowns for the Wildcats.
The scoring summary
After an early touchdown on an eight-play drive for Greene County, the Pirates turned around and finished a 15-play series where running back Jacquez Alexander-Dedeaux took a direct snap from 7 yards out for a touchdown.
The extra point was botched with 3:49 left in the first quarter and the score at the end of the quarter was 7-6 in favor of Greene County.
The second quarter began in the Pirates’ favor when they got the Wildcats’ first turnover on downs, but then botched a punt with 3:34 left in the first half.
Greene County brought this home quickly and highly acclaimed quarterback Coby King ran straight up the middle for a 3-yard touchdown with 1:50 left in the half.
Pass Christian answered the score, driving down the field in eight plays and quarterback Paris Trivillion finding wide receiver Amarie James in the corner at the halftime buzzer for a 23-yard touchdown. After the two-point conversion was not good, the halftime score was 14-12 in favor of Greene County.
The Pirates came out of the gates for the second half. Three interceptions and two touchdowns later, they appeared headed to their third series win against the Wildcats. Pass Christian had a 25-20 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Two Pirates turnovers allowed a 61-yard scoring run by King for a 26-25 Wildcats lead with eight minutes to go in the game and an 11-yard interception return for a touchdown with less than 30 seconds left to seal the Greene County victory.
The numbers never lie
King did not have his most dominant performance, finishing 10-of-20 passing for 93 yards with three interceptions and a fumble. He did have 154 rushing yards and a touchdown to counter.
Trivillion led the Pirates with 261 yards passing and one touchdown.
However, multiple turnovers, including a fumble on a sack and an interception that were both returned for touchdowns, were tough to overcome.
Trivillion also had 107 yards rushing and one touchdown run.
Pass Christian had nearly 200 yards rushing (197) with Trivillion, Alexander-Dedeaux and Amarie James each running for a touchdown.
James had nine receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown.
Next up
The Pirates face another daunting region game, this time on the road against the Poplarville Hornets on Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. In the previous 24 meetings, Pass Christian has defeated Poplarville only twice.
Greene County will take the week off and host Bay High on Oct. 18.
