Picayune’s Malcom Faciane made Maroon Tide football history Thursday afternoon.

With most of the prep coaches from across the state gathered here for the annual Mississippi Association of Coaches All Sports Clinic, Faciane, Picayune’s standout tight end, was named to the prestigious Dandy Dozen list as compiled annually by the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.

His selection marks the first time in the 22 year history of the select squad, which consists of the 12 most sought after prep football players in the state, that a Picayune football player has been named to the squad. “We’re proud of him,” Picayune veteran hed coach Dodd Lee said Thursday, while attending the clinic. “I hope he uses this a stepping stone to even bigger and better things.”

Faciane, a 6-foot-6, 260 pound senior, averaged 18.9 yards per catch last season for the Maroon Tide (8-4), has verbally committed to Alabama.

Faciane becomes just the third local player to ever make the select squad along with Pearl River Central’s Bobby Thaxton and Hancock’s Terrance Goff.

Thaxton, a quarterback and the son of longtime Blue Devils coach Curtis Thaxton, made the team in 1991. Goff is still the only player in the 20 year history ever selected twice to the Dandy Dozen, as the running back was picked in 1990 and 1991.

“Without a doubt, Picayune has to be one of the most successful teams on the field over all of those years to have never had a player picked,” Clarion-Ledger prep guru Todd Kelly said. “Each year is a totally different situation, Who knows, they could have three of four picked over the next five or six years. You just never know.”

Faciane caught just 12 passes last season. Kelly said that there was a time in the process that eye-popping stats were used as a barometer for selection, but these days “the preseason dream team of Mississippi’s best high school football players is chosen primarily from the input of college recruiters.”

“It’s good for recognition for our program I guess, that we finally have had a player selected,” Lee concluded. “Malcom has a lot of potential. If he reaches his potential, we will have a great year.”

The Tide begins the season at Moss Point on Aug. 27th.