Two Plays Cost Tide Dearly In 17-3 Loss to Meridian

by Carey Meitzler

Picayune would love to erase two plays from their Division 3-5A game against Meridian.  Without those plays, the

Tide may well have been in involved in an overtime battle instead of suffering a 17-3 defeat at Meridian's Ray

Stadium.

The first play occurred with the game tied at 3-3 and Meridian facing 3rd and 5 from their own 35 yard line with 2:40

to play in the third quarter.   Meridian's Junior quarterback Justin Bailey, using play action, setup and threw a long

yard pass to a wide open A.J. Brown.  Brown took in the pass at the Tide 30 and streaked into the end zone to put

Meridian on top 10-3 after Phillip Sullivan added the point after touchdown.

The second play gave Meridian a first and goal at the Tide 7 yard line with less than 7 minutes left in the game. 

Picayune fumbled the ball on an errant handoff and Meridian scored one play later on a Derrick Davis touchdown

run to give the Wildcats a two touchdown final margin of 17-3 after Sullivan's extra point conversion.

The start of the game was a good one for the Tide as they took the opening kickoff, got a good return to their own

43 yard line from Desmond McDougle, and drove inside the Meridian 10 yard line before having to settle for a

32 yard field goal from Scott Hillery with 8:26 left in the first quarter.

Meridian would tie the game midway through the second quarter on a 25 yard field goal by Sullivan with 6:18 to

showing on the second quarter clock.

Meridian took the second half kickoff and marched to the Tide 21 yard line.  However, the Tide defense stiffened

and forced Sullivan to attempt a 38 yard field goal that was partially blocked by Picayune's Lester Robinson and the

score remained 3-3.

Picayune was unable to move the ball against Meridian in the second half running only 14 plays from the line of

scrimmage and accounting for only 14 yards on 11 rushes and three incomplete passes. 

Meridian, at times utilizing as many as 10 defensive players up on the line of scrimmage, held Picayune to

only 104 yards on 35 carries on the evening.

Meridian finished with 202 yards rushing on 51 attempts with Derrick Davis accounting for 186 yards on 36 carries.

Picayune (4-2,2-1) will be on the road next week as they travel to Brandon while Meridian (5-0-1,3-0) will host Oak

Grove.