Picayune at Brandon Oct 15th
Barry Harper
TAKE NOTE! Picayune's football team always plays hard. Any coach from an opposing team in
South Mississippi will tell you this.
I wasn't able to make the trip to Meridian last Friday night, but I listened intently to the WRJW
radio broadcast. It sounded like two very good high school football teams getting after one another.
It takes a lot of determination and grit to win a state championship and both of these teams have got
it. I feel for sure that they will play again in the South State championship. However, according to
Mr. Meitzler (Humpty Dumpty-will tell you later) if Meridian wins our division and we make it to
that South State championship game, we will play in Meridian again. I will be in that number for
that classic showdown. I PROMISE !
Now as for the game itself. Meridian won 17-3. It was not a runaway.
The game was actually a lot closer than that score would indicate. After playing to a 3-3 tie in the
first half, the second half seemed to be a lot like the first one. Two big plays seemed to turned the
game toward Meridian 's favor.
First they hit a big pass play on us. Give the coach credit for the call. They have a great running
game. You almost have to cheat up as a defensive unit to try to stop it. BAM! PLAY ACTION!
TOUCHDOWN PASS ! They took a 10-3 lead in the 3rd quarter. Give their coaching staff credit
for the call and their kids credit for the execution. But, we are only down by 7, everything is still
okay.
Now, the second big play. We fumbled inside our 10 yard line and they quickly capitalize on the
turnover with another touchdown. Take these two plays away and we may still be in Meridian
playing overtime football. The game was a lot closer than the score indicated.
Finally, I understand Mr. Meitzler did his best impression of Humpty Dumpty Friday night at the
stadium. You know Humpty Dumpty, the one who had the great fall. Carey gave me all the details
Saturday morning during our The Sam Adkins Morning After show. Get him to tell you the story.
When I was sure he did not injure himself, I busted out with laughter. He got up by himself, but
they may want to carry a few of the king's horses and men to Brandon just in case Humpty Dumpty
falls down again.
Speaking of Brandon , Picayune put an old fashion whuppin' on them boys last year. They are
wanting revenge. Their are a lot of Picayune connections with this team. Some of their dads and
uncles played for the Maroon Tide years ago. We are going to have to play good ball. It is that
time of the where some teams are fighting for a playoff spot. I know it is still early, but Brandon
(1-2 in division) really needs this one. They will be ready and may use every trick play in their
playbook.
Everyone needs to make this trip and support the Maroon Tide. And you never know about our
broadcast crew. Last week it was Humpty Dumpty this next week it could be Little Jack Horner
or the cow who jumped over the moon. The way I see it! Picayune-34 Brandon- 13
Carey Meitzler
Last week was an interesting visit to Ray Stadium in Meridian. I knew it was big, cavernous,
14,000 seats and so on, but I had no idea we would be broadcasting from a “nose bleed”
pressbox. I was extremely nervous climbing up the stairs (more like a metal ladder pointing
almost straight up) to get up there the first time before the game. Well, I had to come down
and get with the coaches to record their pre-game interviews for the WRJW broadcast.
Before going to the field, I needed to make a visit to the men's restroom. That's where it gets
very interesting. Imagine for a minute that you are afraid of heights and you just got through
an up and down, you're feeling pretty good about it, and then.....
To get to the “room”, you had to go underneath the stands, go down about five steps, and then
hang a hard left to get there. Well, kind of like a boxer going down, the left did me in. To my
defense, it had rained earlier leaving a puddle of water at the bottom of the steps and when
this young man exited the restroom running like one of their running backs, well it was like
Howard Cosell and his famous “Down Goes Frazier!!! Down Goes Frazier!!!”, except it was
me. Thanks to Bill Hillery for driving me home and to Dr. Ludwick Lohnes for his handiwork
on Saturday morning, I was much better within 24 hours. I am not sure how the concrete repairs
went at Ray on Saturday, but that's not my problem anyway. I am just glad no one, especially
my friends, is making fun of me about this. I'm sure there are some out there you would find
humor in this situation. Go figure.
One more housekeeping item. Picayune was well represented at PRCC's Homecoming last week.
Brittany Bynum, Chastity McLemore, Brooke Smith, Ashley Harper, Katie Seal, & Shira Stubbs
all looked beautiful in spite of the rainy conditions and they all represented PMHS exceptionally
well. Man alive, must be something in the water at PMHS: beautiful women & great athletes.
ROLL TIDE.
Mr. Barry Harper was on hand to escort his daughter Ashley, one of the maids mentioned above.
Early Saturday during the Sam Adkins Morning After show on WRJW 1320 AM, Barry asked me
to critique his performance and report back on it. Well, he did okay in the "wobble" onto the
field part, but his umbrella handling skills left a bit to be desired as I notice time and time
again Ashley was twitching and moving around and there was no music. Now, Ashley is a
cheerleader, so that kind of stuff is normal in most cases. However, in this case, she was trying
to dodge water from the "tilted" umbrella from her dear ol' Dad. It seems Barry was not paying
attention to what was going on. If this was an Olympic scoring system, he would want to throw
out my score because it would be the lowest. If Robbie Hamilton would have seen Barry's
lackluster effort to keep his daughter dry, it would have definitely made the UGLY portion of
Robbie's Chasin Foul Balls. I am sure he has an explanation for soaking Ashley's back that
doesn't include his bad 'brella balancing. I guess we'll hear about Saturday morning.
The Tide played a very good football team toe to toe at Meridian. Our defense was as good as theirs
and in some cases, better. Sophomore Levi Slaydon, seniors Lester Robinson, Nigel Thomas, Ryan
Detillier, Stephen Hall, & Donel Smith, and juniors Derrick Bullock & Brent Acker made play after
play. Hats off to all of them for really sticking it to the ‘Cats. Hats off to Coaches Donnie Bond,
Gen Breeland, Johnny Meyers, & Seth Smith for a great plan. Meridian was good, but they also
got all the breaks; fumbled four times and didn't lose any to the Tide. When was the last time that
happened ? I can't recall it.
Offensively, we gave a great effort there as well. It just wasn't our night and Meridian is good on
defense. Very good. I said it on the Morning After and I'll say it again: Our guys are as good as
anybody in the state. And I have a hunch Coach Dodd Lee and Coach Brian Edwards will have a
few things for the ‘Cats next time around. Count on it. I want to play those guys again. I'll go to
the restroom before I get to The Ray. Count on it.
This week, the Guys in Maroon Hats travel to Brandon to take on the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs have
some talented players in RB Jeremy Horton (5-10, 162, Sr), TE/LB Chris Monsour (5-11,210,Sr),
FB Cartez Scott (5-10, 225,Jr), and RB Avery Purvis (5-9,160,Jr). Their QB Gary Schaffhauser
(6-2,180,Sr) started last year as well. But, their best player has Picayune ties.
Blake Speirs #42 LB/FB (6-2, 215, Sr) is the son of Picayune native Jimmy Spiers, Class of '78.
There were a lot of good people that came out of PMHS in '78. Blake is their leading tackler.
He made the Mississippi Association Coaches All State Team as junior last year. He's a good one.
He'll be playing somewhere next year on the college level.
Jimmy was a good football player under Sen. Ezell Lee (Dodd's father) in junior high and Dewey
Partridge in high school. He played some QB and in his later years, defensive back. He would
stick you pretty good between the lines. Off the field, Jimmy is one of the friendliest people you'll
ever meet. I look forward to seeing him at the game.
The game: I think we will have to be ready or we may walk into an ambush. Brandon has had this
one circled on the calendar (I'm told) since last year when they felt we scored a few more points
than we needed at the end of the game. I personally don't put much stock in that kind of stuff,
however, the Bulldogs will be ready to play. Dan Davis, their head coach, is a good man and
very good coach. I look for them to try to show the Maroon Tide a lot of different looks and a
few surprises from their offense.
If our guys come ready to play, we should be okay. If not, it could be a real close game. I have
noticed over the years that Coach Dodd Lee and his experienced staff seem to always play well
after a loss. Based on that and the fact these guys have come ready every Friday this year, I look
for the Tide to get one more win toward clinching a play-off berth in Division 3-5A.
Picayune 28 Brandon 9