Mandeville Skippers Make Playoff Seminfinals For First Time In School History

Written by Ted Lewis of The Times-Picayune:

Since two of his players’ fathers are Saints assistants, Mandeville Coach Guy Lecompte probably could have scored tickets to Monday’s game.

“What game?” Lecompte asked in all innocence Monday morning. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t even know they were playing.”

Such is the tunnel vision for a coach whose team has made it to the semifinal round of the playoffs, especially for the first time in school history.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Lecompte, whose team travels to West Monroe on Friday for their Class 5A game. “But you want to keep winning so you work and work until you get a game plan in place.

For full article:  http://highschoolsports.nola.com/news/article/4744179918360266058/five-metro-area-teams-prepare-for-semifinal-football-round-friday/

Picayune Linebacker Duo Reminiscent Of Sam Mills

Written by Rick Cleveland of The Clarion Ledger:

Mighty mites: Picayune duo packs a wallop

The last time this 5-foot, 10-inch sports writer interviewed a linebacker who looked up at me, he was the late, so very great Sam Mills, an All-Pro for first the New Orleans Saints and then the Carolina Panthers.

His teammates called Mills Mighty Mouse. Saints fans called him PacMan. Opposing running backs called him Sir. He was a tackling machine. The program listed Mills at 5 feet, 9 inches tall, and I still believe the program was fudging.

To continue reading:  http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20111129/COL0504/111290324/Mighty-mites-Picayune-duo-packs-wallop-?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home

Coach's Daughter Caught In The Middle Of Picayune-PRC 5A Semifinal

PICAYUNE -- Devin Smith of Picayune is a home economics instructor at Pearl River Central. Two doors down from her classroom is her husband of nearly 10 years, Seth Smith, defensive coordinator for the Blue Devils football team.
This season, Devin Smith has witnessed her husband -- along with the rest of the PRC coaching staff -- sacrifice to turn a losing program into a modern-day Cinderella story.
Finally after months of hard work, it all comes down to Friday night, the South State championship against county rivalry Picayune. She’s nervous. What coach’s wife wouldn’t be? But there is one little factor that makes her situation all the more nerve-racking.

Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2011/11/22/3592229/shes-right-in-the-middle-of-this.html#ixzz1eWzMxysE

Versatile Quarterbacks Highlight Petal vs Biloxi Second Round Playoff Match Up

Looking forward to hitting tonight's 2nd round 6A Playoff Game between Biloxi and Petal at Biloxi High School.  After stumbling early in the season, both teams are riding an 8 game win streak with the Petal Panthers coming in at 9-3 while the Biloxi Indians are 10-2.  In addition to both teams being red hot at the moment, another common denominator is versatility at QB.  Petal QB Anthony Alford, who is uncommitted, was a preseason Dandy Dozen pick by The Clarion Ledger and Scout.Com has him ranked as the state's third highest recruit.  Alford has definitely lived up to those expectations demonstrating his dual weapon capability with 1550 passing yards and 1324 rushing yards on the season. 

Biloxi junior Quarterback Jaylen Woullard may have had the biggest breakthrough season of any player in the whole state and is sure to be a top recruit for 2013.  While leading the Indians to their most team wins since 1968, Woullard has provided plenty of razzle-dazzle throwing for 1899 yards and rushing for 1013.  He has also pushed scoreboard operators to their limits accounting for 37 total touchdowns with 23 coming through the air and 14 on the ground. 

Kickoff is in two hours .  Gotta go get ready!

PETAL VS BILOXI

Coast high school football focuses on three games Friday night, and the second-round matchups are quite intriguing.
Biloxi, the lone Coast representative in the Class 6A playoffs, goes for its ninth straight victory Friday when the Region 4 champion Indians (10-2) host Petal at Biloxi Stadium.
In Class 5A, the names are all familiar in the South State playoffs. It is an all-Region 4-5A affair as Long Beach (8-3) visits Pearl River Central (8-4), and Pascagoula (9-3) entertains Region 4 champ Picayune (10-2).
Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2011/11/15/3577571/playoff-focus-is-on-3-games.html#storylink=omni_popular#ixzz1dvn22uVt

Pascagoula Ends Playoff Victory Drought

PEARL -- For the first time since most of its players were in diapers, Pascagoula High School has won a football playoff game.
Will Tomes' 21-yard touchdown pass to Breland Hoye with 8:19 left provided the winning points in a 28-21 victory over Pearl on Friday night. The win was Pascagoula's first in the postseason since they beat Meridian 14-7 in the first round in 1995.
To continue reading:  http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-sports/2011/11/pascagoula_football_wins_first.html#incart_mce

WILL THIS BE THE YEAR FOR A MS COAST TEAM TO WIN THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

Historically, political candidates from the Mississippi Gulf Coast have not fared well in statewide elections, and yesterday's election results were not exception.  Maybe the high school football teams representing the Coast will do better.  With the exception of the 4A State Championship won by the Saint Stanislaus
Rock-A-Chaws of Bay St. Louis in 2009 under record setting quarterback Dylan Favre, coast teams have also strugged to bring a title back with them on the drive back on Highway 49 South.  A big reason has been the 6A Dynasty that the South Panola Tigers have established up in Batesville, in addition to having to get past Meridian to even face them.  However, at 8-3, the Tigers' griplock on the state championship seems vulnerable.  Plus, there are eight different teams from the Coast represented in the Mississippi 5A and 6A playoffs, so the region has numbers in its favor.  It will probably be Friday when I decide about which one to attend.   The Brookhaven-Long Beach rematch from last year's playoff interests me as does Biloxi vs Hattiesburg, with the Indians riding a  7 game win streak soaring to the #1 spot in The Sun Herald. 

Which game would you choose?  Here is a breakdown on all the matches from Doug Barber of The Sun Herald to help you decide:

High school playoffs: Intrigue ahead

The Class 6A and Class 5A state football playoffs kick off Friday with some intrigue that includes first-time meetings and rematches of a sort.
And here are some of the punctuation points on Friday:
In Biloxi hosts its first home state playoff game since 2001 when the Indians entertain Hattiesburg, the No. 4 seed from Region 3.
Continue reading:  http://www.sunherald.com/2011/11/08/3562233/intrigue-ahead.html

 

COASTAL CLASH: GULFPORT, BILOXI TO SETTLE DIFFERENCES WITH REGION CHAMPIONSHIP AT STAKE

Gulfport and Biloxi. Two cities that share a common border along the Mississippi Sound but differ greatly in terms of priorities and personality.  Gulfport is about industrial sites and downtown development, while Biloxi'S economic development priorities focus on casinos and tourism.  The Port of Gulfport is geared towards accomodating large cargo ships coming into dock drop off consumer goods into 18 Wheelers to be transported all across the country (Ship Island being an exception).  The harbors scattered around Biloxi are built to accomodate shrimp boats, speedboat races, fishing tournaments and delivery trucks for the seafood processors located all along Biloxi's Back Bay.  Gulfport is more Anglo, while Biloxi's population is comprised of numerous ethic groups who migrated there during different periods of its history, to work in the city's heavily labor intensive seafood industry.  Growing up in Jackson, when people traveled to the Coast, they went to Gulfport to attend meetings and Biloxi to party.  While public corruption in Gulfport has historically been mainly scandal free, gambling took place in Biloxi long before the State Legislature legalized it, and consequently it had aspects of organized crime associated with it.  Gulfport is the serious older brother while Biloxi is the mischief, carefree younger brother.  Gulfport is Wally.  Biloxi is the Beaver.  And if you want to take this analogy further, with its closeness to New Orleans, Hancock County is Eddie Haskell while reliable ol' Jackson County is Lumpy.
 Once a year these two coastal city sibling rivals, both offspring from the Mother Gulf of Mexico, get to settle their differences face to face and tonight is the night.  The venue is the Biloxi High Indians Stadium.  While these two programs annually face off in the final regular season game this year the stakes are much higher as the winner will be named Region 4-6A Champions and get a better state playoff seeding.  In their short tenures at each school, both Gulfport Coach Mike Justice and Biloxi Coach John Shannon have done remarkable rebuilding jobs as the Admirals of Gulfport come in with a 7-3 record while the Indians are 8-2.  This fierce rivalry, which at one time was discontinued for a 10 year period from 1958-1967 due to a fight, has been dominted by the Admirals in recent years.  However, Biloxi, which is riding a 6 game win streak in which they have pushed the scoreboard to its limits, comes in as the hotter team and ranked #1 in the Sun Herald, while the physical, grind-it-out Admirals hit a road block last week with a 27-7 loss to Ocean Springs. 
 The scoring range for the Indians during this six game winning streak goes from a low of 42 points to a high of 63 points.  They have obviously improved greatly since the 41-24 thrashing they took from Pascagoula in the Shrimp Bowl season opener.  Most impressive has been the play of junior quarterback Jaylen Woullard.  Last Friday, in the Indians 56-14 domination over Hancock County, Woullard had an amazing 257 yards rushing on 9 carries with four touchdowns, in addition to completing 10 of 13 passes for 70 yards and two touchdowns.  Yes, that's right 257 yards rushing on 9 carries by a quarterback.  With those kind of rushing statistics, Woullard makes Michael Vick look like he has the mobility of Peyton Manning.      
 You know Coach Justice will have the Admirals prepared after last Friday's disappointment.  Two weeks ago Gulport brought down #1 D'Iberville with a big thud 45-7.  It wouldn't be a surprise if they took down #1 again. 
- Win    

Louisiana 5A #1 St. Paul Shoots For Undefeated Regular Season Against Fountainbleau Tonight

The St. Paul Wolves of Covington are ranked #1 in the Louisiana 5A Classification and are shooting for an undefeated regular season tonight against rival Fountainbleau.  It would be the 29th consecutive regular season victory for the Wolves.  Early in the season I watched St. Paul's defeat defending State Champion Acadiana in the Sugar Bowl Prep Classic 15-14 in a last minute thriller at the Superdome.  The article below from The Times-Picayune mentions that despite the Wolves' success they have a shortage of Division I college prospects with only senior running back Dylan Long getting his sole offer from McNeese State.  While the Wolves may lack superstars they play very well as a team together with no real weaknesses. Quarterback Patrick Duncan is an effective passer and provides strong leadership making the players around him better.  The Wolves also brought a very large and enthusiastic fan base to the Superdome that September evening with a big time band all which helped bring a college football atmosphere to their style of play.  As far as future recruiting prospects for the Wolves, keep an eye on junior defensive back Jay Washington.  While it was hard to gauge his cover skills because of Acadiana's few passing attempts, Washington provided excellent running support in the Sugar Bowl Prep Classic and displayed the necessary physical style of play to become a top notch SEC cornerback or safety.

Here is more on the Wolves from Ted Lewis on Nola.Com:

St. Paul's regular-season run of success has gotten to the point where it's being taken for granted, at least by the outside world.
But it has reached this point — 28 straight games during the last three seasons going into tonight's finale against Fontainebleau — precisely because the Wolves don't take anything for granted.
"We go out each week knowing each team we play is going to give us their best game," senior running back Dylan Long said. "So we understand that if we want to keep winning, we've got to prepare right and do all of the little things right.
For full article:  http://highschoolsports.nola.com/news/article/6484925052653218491/st-pauls-football-team-seeks-to-finish-unbeaten-once-again/