By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PASCAGOULA — Pascagoula actually played a home game in the opening round of the state playoffs for the first time in nine years Friday night.
And the result, fortunately for veteran head coach Lewis Sims and his Panthers, was just about the same as the last time.
Pascagoula dispatched visiting Terry 41-0 in the first round of the Class 6A South State playoffs at War Memorial Stadium. The win pushes the Panthers into the second round on the road at Hattiesburg next week.
Pascagoula moved to 9-2 overall with the win. The last time the Panthers actually got to play at home in the opening round of the state playoffs was in 2015, when they thumped Brookhaven 36-8.

“Big win indeed,” Sims said. “Complete team win. Defense scored two touchdowns and that was big. The Offense took advantage of opportunities and continued to extended the lead. Terry is a hard nosed, well-coached team that outplayed us in the third quarter. Fortunately, we bounced back in the fourth quarter to seal the game. Winning is hard, especially in the playoffs. We can enjoy this for 24 hours and then it is time to focus on Hattiesburg.”
Pascagoula wasted no time in taking a quick and commanding lead with five touchdowns in the first half.
Junior tailback Amarie Jackson put PHS on top 7-0 less than two minutes into the game with a 25-yard scoring scamper.
Panther senior quarterback Silas Corder then found wide out Darrius Carter just minutes later on a nifty 87-yard scoring strike to double the lead up to 14-0.

Then, it became the Jarrad Loper show for the rest of the first half for PHS.
The junior linebacker picked off a Bulldog pass and returned it 46-yards for a touchdown to make it 21-0 late in the first quarter.
Then, on Terry’s next possession, Loper was right back at it again when he hauled in yet another errant pass and raced 32-yards and suddenly it was 27-0.
On Pascagoula’s next offensive possession, Loper came in to finish off another scoring drive with a 2-yard touchdown plunge to make it 34-0 at halftime.

With the game well in hand, Corder ended the scoring early in the fourth frame on a 21-yard touchdown toss to Carter to wrap things up.
Terry, which started its season at 5-0, ends the season at 7-4.