On the first cool Friday night of the season, the Picayune Maroon Tide turned the heat up quickly.

The Maroon Tide racked up over 500 yards rushing and beat Pass Christian 56-28 in a Division 8-4A contest.

Picayune is 6-0 overall and 3-0 in league play while PCHS dropped to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in league play.

Although the Pirates were able to score 21 first half points, the game was never in doubt as the Tide kept scoring. The Tide was led by Albert Richard who rushed fourteen times for 192 yards and four touchdowns. Richard and seniorr fullback Dale Meitzler combined with junior Drew Cole to form a potent trio of explosiveness for the Tide.

Meitzler added three touchdowns and 95 yrads rushing, while Cole had 144 yards rushing and scored once.

In the first half, the Pirates veer offense had the Tide’s defense off balance. The defense wasn’t able to stop the Pirates on their first possession, allowing the Pirates to tie the score on two plays capped by a fifty yard scoring run.

” They had our defense on it’s heels in the first half.” Tide head coach Dodd Lee said. “In the second half we were able to release the linebackers and let them get to the ball carrier.”

And in the second half it showed true. The defense allowed only one score, but by that time the second team defense was in the game with Picayune leading 56-21.

The Tide scoring started with Richard bursting outside for a 48- yard scamper to the end-zone. With the score tied 7-7, Meitzler show his strength by running up the middle and cutting to the outside for a 30-yard touchdown.

On the Pirates ensuing possession, the Tide recovered a fumble and on offense was able to capitalize on a 15-yard run by Richard. The Tide led 21-7 after the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, Richard added his third touchdown on a 41-yard run.

The Tide would go on to intercept a pass early in the second quarter and march down the field on offense in which Cole punched it in from the two.

With the score 35-7 to seven, the game seemed in the bag. However, the Pirates were not done. The Pirates were able to score twice in the second quarter. The second of the two scores was with eleven seconds left on a screen pass. The half ended closer at 35-21. A lot closer than the Tide had expected.

The defense started the second half with two series of three plays and out, while the offense was able to take the ball and score. The first of these two scores saw Richard score his fourth touchdown of the night on a 5-yard end run.

The second score was on Meitzler’s 5-yard run. At the end of the third quarter, the Tide had increased their lead to 49-21.

The fourth quarter saw only one score for each team. The last scoring drive for the Tide was on the only completion for quarterback Micah Hickman on a 37-yard pass to Meitzler.

“All wins are important,” Lee added. “Pass Christian came out fighting and had us on our heels on defense. But at half time we were able to make the necessary adjustments and pull away.

“We did good things on both sides of the ball and executed the changes we needed to win the game”.

Picayune remains undefeated and in control of it’s own destiny heading down the stretch to the playoffs with a home game aginst defending division champion Long Beach up next.