By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PICAYUNE — Picayune’s quest for a third straight state championship came up just short last season.
Now, with a majority of the players that were responsible for those two state titles gone, the Maroon Tide and fifth year head coach Cody Stogner look to get back on the gold ball track.
“Obviously, last season didn’t end like we had hoped,” Stogner said, in a recent interview. Picayune managed to make it to its third consecutive South State championship game before falling to eventual Class 6A state champion West Jones 38-0.
“The group that graduated had a phenomenal career. Our seniors this year and underclassmen don’t want to be known as the group that came after the group. That’s been their mentality this offseason is just to push themselves to able to hold up to that standard that is Picayune football and continue to carry the torch.”

The Maroon Tide has a myriad of standout performers to replace entering this season, including tailback Chris Davis who signed with Stanford and defensive end Jamonta Waller who inked with Auburn as well as linebacker Amari Tyson.
But Picayune gets running back Darrell Smith back to lead the way offensively. As a junior, the Louisiana-Lafayette commit had 1,087 rushing yards with 124 carries and 15 touchdowns as a junior last season along with 194 receiving yards and three touchdowns through the air. He also made 14 tackles in the defensive secondary last season. He is expected to be one of the most versatile backs in the state this fall.
“We’ve been pretty blessed here at Picayune to have a constant of really good running backs,” said Stogner. “That’s not going to change we’re going to continue to do what we do. I feel so confident in the guys we’ve got back there to go win us a football game behind our offensive line.”
“Nothing has changed from what we’re gonna do, it’s just different faces,” Stogner added. “We’ve been pretty blessed here at Picayune to have a constant of really good running backs. That’s not going to change. I feel so confident in the guys we’ve got back there to go win us a football game behind our offensive line.”

The Maroon Tide has captured four state championships over the past 13 years, in 2011, 2013, 2021 and 2022. Stogner, a former Picayune standout player and assistant coach, credits that success to the toughness of the team.
“We strive to be the best because we know we’re gonna get the best effort from everybody we face each week,” he continued. “The game is based off of blocking and tackling so to be good at that you have to be as physical as you can. These guys learn that at an early age and that is what we expect out of them. It’s expected that we are going to be physical and we are going to be hard-nosed. We are never going to be the most talented team, the biggest team out there, but we are going to give it everything we’ve got for 48 minutes.”
Stogner sports a spiffy 47-7 record as head coach of his alma mater in his four years at the helm. Picayune went 10-3 last season and has won at least 10 games each of the past three seasons.
“The buzz around Picayune football has always been great,” Stogner concluded. “But it seems to have elevated over the past three or four years. We have high expectations every year. We had a good team last year and I think we do this season also.”