Patrick’s Picks: Can Poplarville and Picayune earn a Pearl River County sweep?
The Pearl River County takeover will be in full effect Saturday in Hattiesburg.
Poplarville (9-5) will take the field first at M.M. Roberts Stadium with an 11 a.m. kickoff against Corinth (13-1) in the Class 4A state title game. At 7 p.m., Picayune (14-0) will take on West Point (14-1) in the Class 5A championship.
Considering Poplarville’s surprising sweep through South State and West Point has won the last three 5A state titles, most would consider Picayune and Poplarville the underdogs.
The Picayune and West Point football teams aren’t mirror images of each other, but there are strong similarities between the two programs.
“I see a lot of the same philosophy in their team as ours,” Picayune coach Dodd Lee said. “Their effort and their belief in what they do. That’s the same thing that makes everybody tough. You’ve got to believe in yourself. You’ve got to believe in what you do and who you’re doing it with. They do that.”
The main thing that ties the two programs together is their tendency to run the ball.
As a team, Picayune has run the ball 614 times for 6,081 yards and 90 touchdowns in 14 games.
West Point is more balanced on offense with 1,213 passing yards, but the Green Wave has run the ball 611 times for 3,918 yards and 57 touchdowns.
The one thing that stands out when you consider those numbers is how much more explosive the Picayune rushing attack is. The Maroon Tide average 9.9 yards a rush while the Green Wave check in at 6.4.
West Point relies on a pair of seniors who have cleared the 1,000-yard mark — Brandon Harris (1,191 yards, 18 TD) and Dantariyus Cannon (1,106 yards, 14 TD). Another senior, Jimothy Mays, has 140 carries for 846 yards and 12 touchdowns.
The 5-7, 170-pound Cannon is the game-breaker of the group with an average of 9.5 yards a carry.
As for Picayune, senior running back Cameron Thomas is the dominant centerpiece of the Maroon Tide offense. He has carried 270 times for 3,371 yards and 46 touchdowns with an average of 12.5 yards a carry. The 5-7, 155-pound Thomas leads the state in both rushing yardage and touchdowns. With another big game on Saturday, he’ll likely win the state’s rushing title by 1,000 yards over the state’s second-best on the list — Pelahatchie’s Ahmad Johnson, who ran for 2,586 yards in 13 games. Thomas should also finish the season as the state’s leader in average rushing yardage with a clip of 240.8 entering Saturday.
With two squads that have run the ball a total of over 1,200 times this season, expect a short game Saturday night.
While Lee knows his team has a major challenge ahead of it, he said he’s not losing much sleep this week.
“I do not doubt our kids’ effort,” he said. “I do not doubt the way they prepare. I believe that want to win just as bad as I do. What else can I say? My heart’s at rest.”
My pick: Picayune 38, West Point 31.
Class 4A title game
Corinth 28, Poplarville 24: Poplarville may be the biggest underdog to take the field Saturday despite reaching the Class 4A state title game in three of the last four seasons.
The only loss on Corinth’s schedule is a 38-35 game on Aug. 30 against a Class 6A playoff team in Tupelo. A 36-28 win over Class 6A Olive Branch, which won nine games this season, tells you how good the Warriors have been.
Poplarville, which started the season 1-4, has played its best football of the season in recent weeks with the defense holding four potent offenses to 20 points or less in each of the playoff victories. Last week, the Hornets shut down Lawrence County 38-14.
Corinth features a run-first offense that’s led by senior quarterback D.T. Sheffield, who has completed 59.2 percent of his passes for 1,222 yards, 18 touchdowns and four interceptions. On the ground, the 5-9, 170-pound Sheffield has 87 carries for 764 yards and 13 touchdowns.
The Corinth defense has been dominant against Class 4A competition, giving up more than 20 points only once against a 4A squad — a 44-31 victory over Itawamba Agricultural (13-1) two weeks ago.
Poplarville will have to find a way to produce some big plays on the ground as it seeks its first state championship in football.
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 3:02 PM.
