South MS playoff roundup: 3 Coast teams advance to South State title games
Friday’s quarterfinal action cut every bracket in the state down to four teams.
Three of those 28 spots will be occupied by a Mississippi Coast representatives vying for a South State title and a trip to Starkville.
Six games featuring seven area teams yielded the final trio remaining this week. Here’s the rundown on how it happened.
Gulfport 45, Petal 10
The Admirals are one win away from the state championship game for the first time since 1999 after smashing Petal in a rematch of an early season game that saw the Panthers steal a 25-24 win.
The game was close for only a brief moment when Petal returned an interception for a touchdown and cut Gulfport’s lead to 14-10, but from there, the Admirals piled on 31 unanswered points.
Cooper Crosby scored multiple first half touchdowns in leading Gulfport. The Admirals will host Brandon, a team that has upset both Ocean Springs and Oak Grove to punch its South State ticket.
Picayune 52, Hancock 20
Xavier Dennis never gave the Hawks a chance. The Picayune back totalled more than 300 rushing yards before halftime ever arrived to help seal the fifth straight semifinal appearance for the Tide.
The Maroon Tide scored on each of their first five possessions to rapidly build a lead that would eventually blossom to 45-14 by halftime. Dennis scored five times, including from 76, 80 and 97 yards.
Picayune travels to Hattiesburg next week to meet a Tigers team that hasn’t lost since Sept. 12.
Hattiesburg 35, Pascagoula 20
The Panthers hung with Hattiesburg for 24 minutes, but the Tigers pulled away with a three-touchdown third quarter.
Pascagoula trailed just 14-7 at halftime and later scored twice in the fourth quarter after falling behind 35-7. Quarterback Jarrad Loper Jr was injured during the contest and taken to a local hospital, where the school later announced he was released after X-rays and a CT scan came back negative.
Laurel 24, Stone 21
Stone’s season came to a hard end against the Tornadoes. Laurel nailed a 23-yard field goal as time expired to upend the Tomcats and halt what was a seven-game winning streak.
The game was tied at 7, then 14 and finally 21 before Laurel’s semifinal-clinching drive. Stone finishes the year with an 8-4 record in Jacob Aycock’s third year.
Columbia 41, Pass Christian 6
It was a tale of two halves and the Pirates were on the wrong end of the second one. Columbia led just 7-0 at the break of an anticipated matchup between two high-powered offenses.
The Wildcats then scored three times in the first six minutes of the third quarter, expedited by the Pirates fumbling a kick return and having a punt blocked. Columbia coasted to the 4A South State final from there.
Pass Christian returns home 11-2 as the most successful Pirates team ever fielded.
Poplarville 55, McComb 20
The Hornets got their payback in a big way on the road at region rival McComb. Running back Ty Keys scored seven touchdowns and had crossed the 300-yard rushing mark by halftime.
Poplarville lost to McComb 35-34 in the district opener on Oct. 3. The result ultimately became the reason the Hornets were on the road in the first round for the first time since 2015.
Jay Beech’s program is the Coast’s winningest playoff team of the last decade. It’ll play in the semifinal for the ninth time in the last 10 years when it faces Columbia in a rematch of the Wildcats’ 49-28 win on Oct. 30.
