By Veto Roley/sports Writer

PASCAGOULA — Kevin Marshall followed guard Jonathan Dease into the left side of the line Friday night and broke through for a six-yard scoring run that gave Pascagoula a 17-10 come-from-behind double overtime win over Long Beach in Region 4-6A high school football action.
“When I got the football, I saw my guard pancake two [Bearcat] defenders,” said Marshall. “My eyes got so bright. When they started hitting me, I knew I wasn’t going to go down, that I had to score.”

The win prevented a second consecutive loss for Pascagoula (3-4, 1-1) and broke a four game losing streak for the Panthers.
“You don’t want to start the region 0-2,” said Pascagoula coach Zach Green, who noted an 0-2 start meant you were probably battling for your playoff life and looking at a third or fourth seed and traveling that first week. Region 4-6A is matched against Region 3-6A, which includes Hattiesburg and West Jones. “It was a very important win.”
With the Panthers trailing 10-7, Pascagoula got the ball back on their own 23 to start their final drive. After Jason Glaude opened the drive with a 14 yard throw to Arabian Johnson, Glaude found Kevin Reynolds on a left-side screen and Reynolds, with blockers in front of him, had room to run for 32 yards before Long Beach’s Aidan Adkins brought him down at the Bearcat 16.

“[Pascagoula offensive coach] Matt Mock and his staff did an excellent job of drawing that play up,” Green said. “We were able to take advantage of their aggressiveness and get a big play.”
However, three consecutive incomplete passes, the Panthers were forced to settle for a 33 yard field goal by Miles Sprague to tie the game a 10-10.
Both teams, kicking into strong winds, missed field goals in the first overtime period.
Long Beach, behind four consecutive carries from Gavin Sutherlin drove the ball to within the Pascagoula 1 in the second overtime, but could not force the Panther defense with Emauri Anderson and Jaedan Blanchard holding stout along the defensive line, with Anderson wrapping up Sutherlin just before the goal line on fourth down.

Led by linebacker Creevy Harness, who was involved in 11 stops on the night, and Blanchard, who had six tackles, the Panthers defense bent against the Long Beach veer, but only broke once – a 41 yard run by Sutherlin in the third quarter that gave the Bearcats (4-3,1-1) a 10-7 lead at the time.
“It’s a difficult offense to defend as you don’t see the veer that much today,” Green said. “It’s ‘three yards and a cloud of dust’ option attack and you have to have a lot of discipline and do your job to defend against the attack. We did it most of the night, except for that play.”
In the first quarter, after Pasacagoula opened with a long non-scoring drive of 10 plays, Long Beach began their first possession on their own 23 with 7:30 left to play. The Bearcats methodically drove the ball for 14 plays before turning the ball over on downs at the Pascagoula 23. Jer’Mareay Pickett had three stops in the drive and Harness had the final two stops to end the Bearcat threat.

Trialing 7-0 in the second quarter, the Bearcats took their third possession of the night at their own 20 with 5:17 left to the half. Again Long Beach would drive methodically down the field using 14 plays to get to the Pascagoula 19 before an incompletion on fourth down ended the drive with seven seconds left before halftime.
Long Beach got the ball to start the second half and again drove the field behind Raeshaun Brown and Sutherlin, with a long run of 8 yards by Brown in the drive. However, the 13-play drive stalled on the Pascagoula 24 after an incomplete pass. Aiden Downey put the Bearcats on the board with a 42 yard field goal, making the score 7-3 Pascagoula with 4:32 left in the third quarter.
With a 10-7 lead following Sutherlin’s 41 yard third-quarter sprint, the Bearcats took over at their 20 with 8:24 left to play. With Sutherlin doing most of the work, Long Beach steadily drove down field, eating up the clock, running off 10 plays. However, again, the Pascagoula defense broke, but didn’t break, forcing a punt with 2:25 left to go in the game.

“We were on the field a lot,” Green said. “But when we needed a stop, we found a way to stop them.”
“It was a hard-fought game,” said Long Beach coach Cody Finley. “We had our chances, but we couldn’t convert. Pascagoula made their plays when they had to, particularly in overtime.”
Pascagoula, which struggled to get much of a running game going on the night, scored the first touchdown of the night with Glaude finding Lathan Duckworth across the middle for a 37-yard catch and run with 5:17 left to go in the first half.
Glaude was 10-for-20 for 146 yards and a touchdown on the night. Duckworth had three catches for 69 yards to lead Pascagoula’s receiving corps.
Sutherlin led the Bearcats with 146 yards on 30 carries. Landon Thode led the Bearcat defense with six stops.