By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PICAYUNE — Picayune and Biloxi met for the first time in 13 years on the football field Friday night.
The result was the same as it was in 2012.
The Maroon Tide knocked off the visiting Indians 23-14 at Lee-Triplett Stadium in the renewal of a once old Big 8 Conference series. Picayune moves to a perfect 3-0 with the win, while BHS drops to 1-2.
Maroon Tide sophomore running back Xavier Dennis ran for 176 yards and two touchdowns to lead the way for head coach Cody Stogner’s crew.

“Biloxi is a very good football team,” Stogner, now in his sixth season at the helm of his alma mater, said. “We’re not playing our best football, but we still got the win. I feel like the things we can control, we know we can get a lot better at.”
Biloxi scored first on a 22-yard touchdown toss from quarterback Jordan Ramsey to Azairean Magee to make it 7-0 mid-way through the first quarter.
But Picayune responded with a Jamari Hathorne 1-yard scoring plunge to make it 7-6, and the Maroon Tide closed out the first half with a 31-yard field goal from Edgar Cruz to head into halftime up 9-6.
The kick came after the Maroon Tide defense forced the Indians to turn the ball over on downs deep in Picayune territory, which resulted in a 94-yard drive by the home team to take the lead.

The two teams swapped scores in the third frame, as Dennis got into the act with 22-yard touchdown run at the 6:13 mark to extend the Maroon Tide lead to 16-7.
Biloxi bounced back with a 10-yard scoring strike from Ramsey to JoJo Thomas to cut the deficit to 16-14 with 3:19 left in the period.
The final quarter would belong to the home team alone, though, as Dennis closed out the scoring with 8:25 to play on a 10-yard scoring scamper by Dennis.
Maroon Tide defender Kylan Egana recovered a Biloxi fumble with four minutes to play to seal the win.

The last time these two teams met Picayune won 42-35.