Maroon Wave of points buries George County as Picayune earns a return trip to South State
Add it to his bag of tricks.
Darrell Smith — the state’s leading rusher and Picayune’s running back, cornerback, holder and returner — took a direct snap, rolled to his right and tossed a pass over the middle that landed in the hands of Allen Magee for a third quarter score.
It was one of five unanswered touchdowns the Maroon Tide poured in against George County during a 63-40 romp that secured Picayune a fourth straight South State championship game appearance.
And, believe it or not, it was another second-half comeback for head coach Cody Stogner’s team. Trailing 21-14 coming out of halftime, Picayune scored touchdowns five times within the first 10 minutes of the third quarter as part of a seven-touchdown second half.
“Yeah, we’re a second half team, but we don’t like to be,” Stogner told the Sun Herald after the game. “But that’s what we are. I think that helped earlier in the year getting in those situations. We didn’t want to put ourselves in those situations, but being there and having that experience helps us to be able to come back out here for 24 minutes and take care of business.”
Picayune has turned second-half deficits into wins against D’Iberville, Ocean Springs, Pascagoula and, for the second time now, George County.
The Rebels led 20-13 in the third quarter of their first meeting on Nov. 1 before the Tide scored twice to steal the game and clinch the district championship.
Second-half Picayune was less kind in the rematch. Smith bounced back from two first quarter fumbles with three rushing touchdowns and a passing score — His last three scores came in the second half.
The Picayune defense forced fumbles on back-to-back George County possessions in the third to help spur the sudden shift in momentum and give the Maroon Tide a 42-28 advantage by the time the fourth began.
“Consistency, the way we come in and prepare on Mondays and throughout the week and the way we hold each other accountable,” Smith said on his team’s ability to adapt on the fly. “It takes discipline.”
Tandem dominates
Smith has an emerging spell that is helping take the weight of the Picayune offense off the Louisiana commit’s shoulders.
Triston Cooper found the end zone four times out of the backfield on offense, and made a fumble recovery and sacked five-star Auburn commit Deuce Knight on defense.
Cooper had touchdown runs of seven, six and three yards before breaking a 50-yard score in the final minutes of the game.
“I feel like we’re the best duo in the state,” Smith said. “I feed off him, he feeds off me. That’s just how it goes.”
Cooper’s first career 100-yard rushing game came in the first match between Picayune and George County. The senior has 500 rushing yards in four games beginning with that performance after running for less than 300 yards in the team’s first seven games.
“(Cooper) is that thunder to Darrell’s lightning,” Stogner said. “Having him back there to spell Darrell, there’s really not a drop-off. He’s a big back. He thumps it up in there pretty hard. He takes advantage of every opportunity he gets to touch the ball.”
Picayune is making its seventh trip to the semifinal round of the postseason in the last nine years.
The Maroon Tide had a 10-game playoff win streak ended in last year’s South State championship game at the hands of title-bound West Jones. They believe this year’s team has a new edge.
“We’ve got more brotherhood,” defensive lineman Nolan Wilson said. “We’ve got people who are going to hit with us. We’ve got people who are going to go up and down the field with us 24/7. That’s what really changed between this year and last year.”
George County’s season comes to a close further into the year than it has in nearly two decades. The Rebels played a second round game for the first time since 2007.
Knight’s final game as a Rebel saw him score three touchdowns on the ground. He added a 59-yard touchdown pass to DJ McNair in the closing minutes of the game.
Picayune will host Hattiesburg next week for a spot in the 6A championship game. The Tigers defeated Pascagoula Friday, 33-17.
This story was originally published November 23, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
