Stone High School football tops Pass Christian, wins first district title in 28 years
History’s spotlight finally circled back around for a small band of athletes rocking the White and Blue on Friday.
The Stone Tomcats emphatically claimed their first district title in 28 years Friday with a 38-0 victory over the Pass Christian Pirates.
The Tomcats scored four touchdowns in the first half, three of which the handy work of quarterback Connor Tice, and forced a running clock in the final quarter to seat itself atop Region 8-4A.
“We were the Pirates today,” Stone coach John Feaster told his team after the game. “We took their boats and made them swim with the sharks.”
It’s Feaster’s seventh year as the leader of the Tomcats program. Under his guidance, Stone has come within a single game of a region championship on several occasions.
The season has been marked by close losses to 6A schools, electric play from Daylon and Chasdon Collins and the first five-game win streak since 2017 — all of it leading it to a breakthrough win for a “chosen” team.
“Many are called, few are chosen,” Feaster said. “They were chosen. Everything happens for a reason. I remember my first year here... we could’ve won it. But that was on my time. This is on God’s time... Like I said, 28 teams were called, but this one was chosen.”
Tice scored on a one-yard plunge on the first drive and then followed that up with a 40-yard sprint to the house just minutes later.
Even when it wasn’t going right, it was still working. The Tomcats threw an interception in the end zone on a double pass, but the Pirates were hit with a block in the back penalty before the runner left the end zone.
The result was a safety. Ston then got the ball back and scored on a 38-yard pass from Tice to Andrew Bradford — a nine-point swing in favor of the Tomcats after an interception they threw.
“I think it was just believing in our game plan and executing the offense,” Tice said.
Belief came up several times in the celebratory aftermath of the contest. It’s an important trait for a program that plays its home football games at a local junior college.
“We’re a real special team,” Tice said. “We got a lot of special players, a lot of talent on the team. The main thing is, we believe. That’s the key to success, is believing. It means a lot, we don’t even have our own football field. Nobody believed in us, but we showed them.”
Tice is a junior and a former defensive back who Feaster has leaned on throughout the year to not only lead the offense, but spark the team with his unique style of play.
“We have to reel him in, he plays like a defensive player,” Feaster said. “He used to play safety for us. He’s lowering his head, talking trash. That’s just the kind of person he is. Awesome kid, my kind of guy. He’s just a very intense guy... I appreciate that I have a quarterback with some intensity.”
Tice will need to carry that fire forward with just one game between Stone and the playoffs. It’s been five years since the Tomcats have won a postseason game.
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Feaster said.
This story was originally published October 21, 2022 at 10:48 PM.
