By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PICAYUNE — And the beat goes on.

Picayune continued its dominance of George County on the football field Friday night, dispatching the visiting Rebels 49-21. It marked not only the ninth straight win in this series by the Maroon Tide but the third straight year Picayune has ended the season for GCHS in the Class 6A South State playoffs. It was also the fourth win in the past 24 months for Picayune over the Reebels here in Lee-Triplett Stadium.

Picayune leads the all-time series at 16-6, and the nine straight wins in this series dates back to a 2002 playoff encounter in Lucedale. The last win for the Rebels in Picayune came 27 years ago, also in the state playoffs, with a 38-35 win in 1999.

Picayune jumped out to 21-0 lead at halftime, and then withstood a brief rally by the Rebels in the third frame before sealing the comfortable win.

Maroon Tide standout senior running back Xavier Dennis ran for 159 yards and accounted for all three first half touchdowns to give his team that lead.

He ran 5-yards and 45-yards for scores, and he also hauled in a 27-yard touchdown toss from quarterback Gabe Brewer just before halftime.

George County did fight back with two scoring runs from quarterback Maddox Dunn in a three minute pan in the first half of the third quarter to make it 21-14.

But Picayune running backs Jamari Hathorne (5 yards) and Kendall Jett (28 yards) each responded with touchdown runs of their own before the end of that frame to turn the tide back in favor of the home team and basically seal the deal at 35-14.