By MAURICE SINGLETON/Sports Writer

BAY ST. LOUIS — The Long Beach Bearcats (2-1) were successful on a 2-point conversion with 21 ticks on the game clock to get a 36-35 win over the Bay High Tigers (1-2) on Friday.

The Bearcats trailed 35-28 with 4:22 remaining on the fourth quarter game clock when they started their final possession of the night. The Bearcats then put together an 80-yard drive that was boosted by a 44-yard pass completion from Will Brady to S.J. Valentine to move the ball to the Tigers’ 19-yard line. From there, Taj Aubert and Junior Brown took turns pounding the line of scrimmage with Aubert getting back-to-back carries of four yards before Brown took it in from eight yards out to bring the score to within one of the Tigers at 35-34.

The Bearcats decided to go for the win with a 2-point conversion attempt, and Brown’s number was called again, and he delivered with a one-and-a-half-yard carry for the go-ahead score and the win. The ball was moved half the distance to the goal after an off side penalty against the Tigers.

“I wasn’t going to leave here without a W,” said Bearcats coach Jacob Massey. “I knew what we had up front. Our offensive line played great all night. Our backs had played well all night. And I just felt really good about that play.”

That 44-yard pass play from Brady to Valentine proved to be huge, especially coming as the Bearcats were facing third down-and-eight from their own 37-yard line.

“We kept that play in our back pockets,” said Massey. “We knew we had it in the first half, but we didn’t know when we might need it. We knew they were coming up on the run, and they didn’t have any safeties deep. We knew we could slip it in off the option and dump it in right there.”

The Bearcats led 21-14 going into the fourth quarter, but the Tigers would score twice over a span of two and a half minutes, first going 63 yards on 10 plays, capped by an 8-yard scoring toss from senior quarterback Xander Ladner to Charles Richardson to tie the game at 21-21 following Tripp Barraclough’s third PAT kick of the night.

The Tigers got a gift from the Bearcats on the first snap on their ensuing possession in the form of a fumble. The Tigers recovered at the Long Beach 23-yard line, and the Tigers capitalized, going four plays with Antione carrying all four times with runs of 7, 7, 3 and 6 yards for the score to put the Tiger up 28-21 with 6:59 remaining on the fourth quarter clock. 

Long Beach wasted little time on their ensuing possession as they kept with their downhill running game, putting the ball in Brown’s hands for three of four snaps for runs of 9, 5 and 16 yards before he would break free for a 30-yard run to tie the game at 28-28.

Bay High would answer on the first snap of their next possession. Ladner connected with a screen pass Jackson Callaway, who outraced Bearcats’ defenders for an 80-yard score in front of the home sidelines. The Tigers would take a 35-28 lead with 4:22 left of the fourth quarter clock.

“We came out, we fought, we kept answering the bell,” said Bay High coach Jeremy Turcotte. “They made one more play than us. They’ve got a pretty scrappy football team. We feel like we’ve got a good football team. They made the plays when it counted. We didn’t.

“We went down in a close one,” Turcotte added. “We needed one more stop. We gave up too many big plays there toward the end.”

Long Beach hosts the Purvis Tornadoes next Friday night. Bay High travels to Gulfport to take on the West Harrison Hurricanes.