By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PICAYUNE — In 2020, at the end of Cody Stogner’s first year as head coach at Picayune, his Maroon Tide lost their final two region games of the season.
That was an isolated aberration.
Since the second of those two losses, Picayune has won 23 straight region games and the Maroon Tide clinched their fourth consecutive region championship with a 27-20 win over visiting George County in Region 4-6A play at Lee-Triplett Stadium Friday night.
The win moves Picayune to 7-2 overall and a perfect 4-0. in the region race, and the Rebels drop to 6-4 overall and 3-1 in league play.

“We fought through a lot and we had to battle back,” Stogner said. “It was an extraordinary effort by our kids tonight. We overcame a lot of adversity but we just kept fighting back. To hold that team to 20 points is incredible. I’m just so proud of the players and coaches.”

The Maroon Tide outscored the Rebels 7-0 in the fourth period to pull out the win.
With the game tied at 20-20 entering the fourth quarter, Picayune tailback Triston Cooper bowled his way into the end zone from 5-yards out to put Picayune up 27-20 with just over 10 minutes to play
Five minutes later, GCHS had a second and goal situation from the Maroon Tide one but three plays and a penalty later Picayune took over on downs at its own 16.
George County quarterback Deuce Knight fumbled away the last chance for the Rebels with :20 seconds left.

The two squads traded fumbles and touchdowns throughout the first half.
Picayune tallied the only score of the first period, when Darrell Smith rolled in from 3-yards out mid-way through the period to make it 6-0.
After each team lost a fumble, George County tied things up at 6-6 on an 18-yard scoring scamper four minutes into the second stanza.
Both Smith and Knight were right back at it in the final minute of the first half, as Smith sprinted 16-yards for a score at the 0:46 mark and Knight hit Brenn Moody for a 20-yard scoring strike just :44 seconds later to make it 13-13 at halftime.

Picayune played most of the second half without the services of Smith due to cramping.
George County recovered a sky kick to open the second half at the Picayune 40, and took its first lead of the game six plays and :40 seconds later on a 6-yard keeper around left end by Knight to make it 20-13.
The Maroon Tide bounced back thanks to a 3-yard touchdown jaunt by Cooper with just over three minutes to play in the third frame to knot things up at 20-20.
George County hasn’t beaten Picayune since 2002, and has now lost six straight games to the Tide.
George County returns home to host Pascagoula in Gill-Martin Stadium Thursday. Picayune closes out the regular season on the road at Hancock Thursday night.