Picayune slips past Petal, 20-17
Published 2:49 pm Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Picayune’s Dalton O’Meara is one of the few Maroon Tide players that didn’t wear his last name across the back of his jersey Saturday night.
But after his game winning kick against eighth-ranked Petal, it’s almost certain everyone in attendance knew who he was.
O’Meara split the up-rights with a 30-yard field goal as time expired, giving the visiting Maroon Tide a thrilling 20-17 come from behind win over the homestanding Panthers.
The win was the second straight last minute win for the ninth-ranked Maroon Tide, now 2-0. Petal drops to 1-1.
“I had pressure on me, but I had no doubt I was going to make it because of my teammates,” O’Meara, who had just tied the game up with 27-yarder with 4:08 to play, said. “Everything was fundamentally perfect; the snap, the hold and the kick.”
Picayune’s Ken Breland helped set up both kicks, as he picked off an Anthony Alford pass with :36 seconds to play at mid-field and returned it 36 yards to set up the game winning kick.
Earlier, Breland hauled in a 45 yard pass from Benjamin Hickman to set up O’Meara’s first kick.
“That was a gutty performance wasn’t it?,” Picayune veteran head coach Dodd Lee said. “These kids have worked too hard to just give up. They overcame a lot tonight and I am proud of every one of them.”
Picayune led 14-9 at halftime, thanks to a pair of scoring runs in the second quarter. Desmond Taylor scored from 20-yards out to erase a 3-0 Petal lead, and then Deronte Magee scored on a 3-yard run to make it 14-9 at the half.
O’Meara was good on both extra points.
Alford scored on a 3-yard run in the second quarter for Petal, and then gave the Panthers the lead in the third frame with a 7-yard scoring run.
After a 62 yard run on the first play of the game, The Maroon Tide defense held the Dandy Dozen quarterback in check most of the night, sacking him seven times.