By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

HATTIESBURG — Perennial state power Picayune played in its fifth straight South State championship game Friday night.
However, the first two were twice as nice as the last three were.
Home-standing Hattiesburg mauled the Maroon Tide here at D.I. Patrick Stadium 47-27 in the Class 6A South State title tilt. The 10th straight win for the Tigers moves them not only to an impressive 12-2 on the season, but right into the Class 6A state championship contest for the second straight season as well where HHS will meet Warren Central in Starkville at Davis-Wade Stadium on the campus of Mississippi State University Friday night at 7 p.m., for all the marbles.

Picayune ends the season at 10-3, with losses in two of its last four games after starting the year off at 8-1. It marked the second straight season that Hattiesburg ended Picayune’s quest in the Class 6A South State title game.
“Our kids stayed the course,” Hattiesburg first-year head coach Kendall Lacey said. “The biggest thing for us all season has been accountability — making adjustments and moving on to the next play. I thought we did a good job of that tonight.”

Lacey replaced longtime Tiger head coach Tony Vance, who departed after the Tigers fell to Grenada in the state championship game last season.

It marks the third consecutive loss for Picayune in the South State finals, after the Maroon Tide won back-to-back Class 5A state titles in 2021 and 2022.
“Hattiesburg is a really good team,” Picayune head coach Cody Stogner said. “I’m proud of my guys for getting there with a chance. They fought until the very end, just wasn’t in the cards for us this year. I Couldn’t be more proud to be a part of the Maroon Tide Nation.”
The Maroon Tide never led in the game. Hattiesburg running back Toney Scott quickly gave the home team a lead it would never relinquish on the first possession of the game for the Tigers with an 8-yard touchdown run for an early 7-0 lead.

Scott added a 10-yard scoring run later in the first period as well.
And even though Picayune was able to keep the game close throughout most of the first half, the game, in all reality, never seemed as close as even the final 20-point margin would indicate.
Maroon Tide standout junior running back Xavier Dennis finished with 25 carries for 232 yards and three touchdowns, including a long scoring scamper from 55-yards and a short touchdown plunge from two yards out as the Maroon Tide made it 21-13 at halftime.

Josh Marshall’s 2-yard scoring dash was Hattiesburg’s other first half score.
The second half was all Hattiesburg, as the Tigers took complete command.
Hattiesburg running back Davion Young gashed the Picayune defense four plays into the third frame and sprinted 70 yards for a touchdown, extending the Tigers’ lead to 27-13.

Dennis cut into the deficit again, this time on a 12-yard touchdown dash to make it 27-20.
But Hattiesburg responded with a decisive eight-play, 90-yard drive capped off by Haedyn Leverette’s 22-yard scoring run to push the lead back to 34-20 late in the third quarter.
The Tigers put the game away early in the fourth quarter, when quarterback Gavin Ducksworth hooked up with Marshall on a 13-yard touchdown pass to make it 41-20 and send many Picayune fans headed back South down I-59.
“I’m proud of how these kids continue to respond,” Lacey concluded. “They believe in what we’re doing, and they compete hard every week.”