By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PICAYUNE — It was an historic night for the Poplarville High football team Friday night.

The Hornets took the Pearl River County championship with a resounding 42-15 win over perennial state power Picayune here at Lee-Triplett Stadium. With the win, Poplarville remains unbeaten at 5-0 on the year, and the Maroon Tide drops to 2-3 overall.

It marked just the fourth win ever for the Hornets over Picayune. Also, it was the first win in Picayune for Poplarville in 51 years.

Also, it marked the first time as well since that 1975 season that Poplarville beat both Picayne and county rival Pearl River Central in the same season.

“It feels good to knock off our two county rivals,” veteran Poplarville head coach Jay Beech said. “Our defense was lights out tonight. That’s a hard team to stop,but we got a lot of big stops tonight. They gave us a bit of a different look early on defensively than we prepared for. But we’ve got seven seniors up front and they did a great job of adjusting.”

Poplarville never trailed in the big win. The tailback tandem of standout senior Dandy Dozen Ty Keys and speedy sophomore Kaden Bradford combined for almost 400 yards rushing and six scores in the game.

The home team missed a field goal to end its opening drive of the game, but Poplarville was much more successful the first time it touched the ball.

Three plays after the missed kick, Keys raced 76-yards untouched up the gut of the Maroon Tide defense to paydirt and it was 7-0 quickly.

The second quarter started in much the same fashion. On the third play of the new period, Keys took a direct snap and lofted a 25-yard scoring strike to Aaron Graham to double up the advantage at 14-0.

Hornet running back Kaden Bradford later added a 21-yard touchdown dash. Sandwhiched in between that was a 35-yard field goal by Picayune’s Edward Cruz to make it 21-3 at halftime.

Then, just to keep things going, Keys capped Poplarville’s opening drive of the second half with a 61-yard scoring scamper less than two minutes into the third frame to make it 28-3 and basically seal the deal.

Picayune did respond. A 2-yard quarterback sneak for a score on the ensuing drive was set up by a 47-yard dash by Tide tailback Xavier Dennis to the Hornet 5-yard line. The point-after was blocked, and it was 28-9 almost mid-way through the third quarter.

But, it was Bradford’s turn again for the Hornets as he raced 61-yards down the home sidelines for a touchdown at the three minutes later to make it 35-9.

Picayune countered with a one-yard touchdown plunge by quarterback Gabe Brewer with 1:38 left in the third to cut into the deficit at 35-15 after the try for two was no good.

Bradford wrapped up the scoring with 2:27 to play with a 48-yard touchdown run.

Poplarville dispatched PRC 28-21 last week. It marks the first time in nine years, since the 2017 season, that the Hornets beat both of their county rivals in the same season.