By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PASCAGOULA — Picayune continued its recent dominance of Pascagoula Friday night.

But it was close.

The Maroon Tide slipped away from War Memorial Stadium with an exciting 38-36 win over the home-standing Panthers in the Region 4-6A opener for both teams. The win was the fourth straight in this almost annual series for Picayune, and the Maroon Tide has also won eight of the last nine games over Pascagoula since 2016 including two wins in 2023.

Pascagoula freshman placekicker Miles Sprague came up well short with a potential game-winning 45-yard field goal attempt as the final horn sounded.

“I tried to warn my guys that it was gonna be a game like this,” Picayune head coach Cody Stogner said. “I’d like to think the halftime speech is what motivated us but really all we all did was play harder. Pascagoula is a tough and well-coached team and I believe we could possibly see them in the playoffs. We have got to figure out to put all three phases together for four quarters. We aren’t there yet and that’s my fault. But the good thing is we started off on the right foot in district.”

After a wild and woolly first half that saw the two teams combine for 69 points, Picayune placekicker Edgar Cruz’s 41-yard field goal with 4:24 left in the game was the first score in the second half and the kick put Picayune up 38-34.

However, with just under a minute to play and Picayune backed up in their own end of the field, a botched snap sailed over the head of the Maroon Tide punter to make it 38-36.

Pascagoula took the ensuing free kick and moved inside Picayune territory but couldn’t pull it out.

The missed kick was the fourth of the night for Sprague, including a key extra point in the first half and two other field goals including a 52-yarder in the third frame that was blocked. He also missed a 26-yarder in the same quarter.

Pascagoula led 14-7 after one quarter, thanks to a 1-yard quarterback keeper from Jarrad Loper and a 16-yard scoring scamper from running back Sean Norvell, sandwiched between a 3-yard scoring run by Picayune running back Xavier Dennis.

Then, all hell broke loose in the second stanza.

The two teams combined for seven touchdowns and 48 points, in this order:

Picayune — Colt Robertson 7-yard pass to Ontario Wilkins 14-14 (11:14)

Pascagoula — Kaiden Street 17-yard offense fumble recovery 20-14 (9:05)

Picayune — Jamari Hathorne 15-yard run 21-20 (8:33)

Picayune — Hathorne 3-yard run 28-20 (5:15)

Pascagoula — Loper 72-yard scoring pass to Tylan Wilson 28-27 (2:20)

Picayune — Dennis 37-yard run 35-27 (0:50)

Pascagoula — Loper 71-yard scoring pass to D’Lass Nunnery 35-34 (0:18)

Hathorne also had a key interception of a Loper pass at his own 1-yard line that he returned 56-yards to the Panther 45 that set up his 3-yard touchdown run.

Picayune moves to 5-1 overall, while Pascagoula is 1-5 with five straight losses. The Maroon Tide now sits in the drivers seat to take its fifth straight region title, with the lone blemish in 2020 which was also the last time Pascagoula beat the Maroon Tide.