By Joseph W. Gex II/Sports Writer

WIGGINS — Home-standing Stone (3-2) slipped past Saint Stanislaus (2-4) in the final non-region game for both squads on Thursday night at the newly minted Tomcat Field.

The game was moved up from Friday evening to miss the tropical weather moving into the area during the weekend.

The Rocks started the game with a Jude Babin 23-yard field goal to culminate the opening drive that gave the Rocks a 3-0 advantage with 5:53 left in the opening quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, Tomcat Sammy Johnson fielded the ball at the one-yard line and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown with 5:42 left. The PAT by Ren Hendrix made the score 7-3.

Three minutes later, Stone running back Ayden Green scored from 15 yards out with 2:45 left in the quarter to make the score 14-3.

The Rocks answered with an 11-play drive highlighted by a 24-yard rush by quarterback Max Bernard and later a one-yard dive by Bernard for the score with 10:02 left in the half to make it 14-10.

The Rocks were back at work on their next drive, as Jaxen Halferty ripped off a 28-yard run and then Bernard found Hayes for a 14-yard score to put SSC up 17-14 with 7:11 remaining in the first half.

Then, Bernard hit Liam Hayes for a 17-yard gain and then found Adam Oliver for a 15-yard gain. Halferty broke free for a 13-yard pickup followed again by a 19-yard pass-and-catch by Oliver. Bernard called his own number on a 13-yard run for a 24-14 halftime lead for the Rocks.

Following the kickoff to start the second half, it took Stone just two plays to find the endzone. Marion Fairley ripped off an 85-yard scoring run to make the score 24-21.

The Rock offense answered with four-play drive that culminated with a 59-yard scoring strike from Bernard to Oliver with 8:54 remaining to return the SSC lead to 31-21.

Stone answered with an 18-yard scoring run by Fairley with 6:11 left in the third quarter and it was 31-28.

With the Rocks driving on the ensuing drive, Stone intercepted the Rocks at the Tomcat 7-yard line and immediately turned the turnover into points.

Stone signal-caller Zander Howard called his own number and ripped off a 39-yard scoring run for Stone with 2:29 left in the third quarter to put the home team up 35-31.

Each team traded possessions twice before Stone got the ball back at their own 9-yard line. Green made a nifty move in the middle and broke free on his way to a 91-yard scoring run with 8:38 left in the game to make the score 42-31.

The teams swapped possessions and the Rocks got the ball back at their own 17-yard line with 5:12 left to play.  The Rocks methodically moved the ball down the field on a six-play drive that ended with Bernard connecting with Lex Rhodes on a 22-yard scoring aerial with 3:44 left to play. The Rocks went for two points and converted when Bernard found Brick Compretta in the endzone to make the score 42-39.

Stone moved the ball down to the Rocks’ 13-yard line before Green fumbled the ball and Fischer Smith recovered it at the Rocks’ 19-yard line with 1:17 left to play.

The Rocks got a huge boost with an aerial from Bernard to Oliver that went for 36 yards to the Stone 20-yard line. As time expired,, DJ Breland stepped in front of a Rock pass at the Tomcat three-yard line and picked it off preserving the Tomcat victory.

Stone head coach Jacob Aycock commented, “Anyone can tell the difference between this Rock team last year and this year. Their coaching staff has worked extremely hard to get them to this point. Max Bernard is a solid quarterback and mix him with some tough players and they are a team to be reckoned with. We ran the ball extremely well tonight and capitalized on some opportunities. We have some younger players on defense and they are coming along nicely as we begin to open region play. We have to go to Wayne County this week to open region play which is always a tough place to play.”

Green led Stone with 16 carries for 287 yards while Fairley added 10 carries for 164 yards.

SSC head coach Evan Gay stated, “I am extremely of how we faced adversity tonight. A couple of weeks ago, we challenged this team to meet adversity head on and we are responding better each week. We keep taking haymakers from opponents and punching back but not getting the result. We are looking forward to beginning region play next week on the road at Tylertown.”

SSC was led by Halferty with 17 carries for 98 yards and Bernard had 14 carries for 87 yards and two scores. Bernard threw for 348 yards and 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Oliver caught 7 passes for 144 yards and a score while Rhodes added 8 catches for 102 yards and a touchdown. Hayes contributed 6 catches for 71 yards and a touchdown.