St. Stanislaus, Resurrection lone Coast teams remaining in state playoffs
Before the football season started, St. Stanislaus and Resurrection Catholic were the two Coast teams labeled most likely to compete for state championships.
Entering the first week of December, the Rockachaws and Eagles are indeed the last two teams standing.
St. Stanislaus cruised to a 44-20 win over Moss Point to advance to the Class 4A South State title game at Lawrence County on Friday.
RCS put together its eighth shutout of the season in a 31-0 victory over Stringer Friday night. The Eagles will host Lumberton at War Memorial Stadium in Pascagoula Friday in the Class 1A South State title game.
Resurrection (12-0) will be a heavy favorite on its home field against a team it beat, 25-8, on Oct. 30 in Lumberton.
Lumberton is the lone team to score on Resurrection in the last eight games - a touchdown run by senior running back Jonathan Walley.
Lumberton likely features the best offensive player Resurrection has faced this year in senior running back Daylon Burks, who ran 19 times for 121 yards against the Eagles earlier this season.
RCS has plenty of weapons in its offensive backfield with Patrick Watts, Justice Sharp and Dillon Jolly all capable of carrying the load behind a strong offensive line.
On defense, the Eagles have been as dominant as any team in the state.
Lumberton has the ability to challenge RCS, but the Eagles have been very consistent.
"They're just a good bunch of kids," RCS coach Scott Sisson said Friday. "They show up to practice every day and do what they're expected to do. They're fun to coach and fun to be around. They're very business like."
St. Stanislaus is known for its potent offense, but recent improvement on defense gives it a good shot at winning on the road Friday night at Lawrence County.
A week after Omni Wells rushed for 383 yards and five touchdowns against North Pike, SSC held the Moss Point junior to 44 yards on 14 carries in Friday night's game at Dantzler Stadium.
Lawrence County (13-1) is on a 12-game winning streak after eliminating Vancleave, 35-21, Friday night. Lawrence County's lone loss was 34-21 at West Marion on Aug. 28.
Lawrence County junior running Quitten Brown will be a handful for St. Stanislaus after rushing 19 times for 236 yards and three touchdowns against Vancleave Friday. He has 227 carries for 1,810 yards and 29 touchdowns this season.
With junior Myles Brennan behind center for St. Stanislaus, the Rockachaws have proven to be a tough team on the road.
Contact Patrick Magee at pmagee@sunherald.com and follow him on Twitter@Patrick_Magee.
This story was originally published November 21, 2015 at 4:30 PM with the headline "St. Stanislaus, Resurrection lone Coast teams remaining in state playoffs ."