Petal falls in heartbreaker to Picayune, 20-17

Petal's Jamarcus Revies snags a 28-yard reception over Picayune defensive back Nolan Fletcher (6) on Saturday night at Panther Stadium. The Maroon Tide won, 20-17, on a last-second field goal. (Photo by David Gustafson)

Posted 11:15 p.m.

By JOSH MLOT

PETAL — It was tough to stomach for the Panthers, and they had nobody to blame but themselves.

Struggles in the kicking game and two late turnovers sank No. 7 Petal, including an interception with 36 seconds left that set up a 29-yard field goal by Picayune’s Dalton O’Meara and sent the Maroon Tide to a 20-17 victory as time expired Saturday night at Panther Stadium.

It was the second week in a row that No. 14 Picayune (2-0) upset a highly-ranked opponent behind a pounding ground game, led this time around by Dereonte Magee’s 23 carries for 103 yards.

But O’Meara was the hero, kicking the game winner as well as a game tying 26-yarder with just over four minutes left in the game.

Petal (1-1) shot itself in the foot on multiple occasions, missing two field goals of its own in the first half, committing 11 penalties and turning the ball over.

“I did a poor job of getting this football team together,” Petal head coach Steve Buckley said. “We’re not very good right now. We weren’t good last week and we weren’t good this week, so we’ve got some work to do.

“I can’t tell you if we made any strides or not until I look at film tomorrow. Right now I don’t feel like we did. We shot ourselves in the foot so many times, whether it was a penalty or a turnover. You can’t do those things, it puts you behind the chains and we’re not a good football team behind the chains.

“We can’t do anything. We think we’ve got a lot of people that know something, but we don’t know anything. That starts at the top with me.”

Tied at 17 late in the fourth, Petal quarterback Anthony Alford seemed to finally have the Panther attack clicking. But then he fumbled away the ball at his own 46-yard line.

Panther QB Anthony Alford rolls out of the pocket on a 2-yard touchdown run against Picayune on Saturday night. (Photo by David Gustafson)

The home side was able to stop the Tide, but the ensuing punt pinned the Panthers deep in their own zone. Trying to move 90 yards in 1:24, Petal pushed itself back with consecutive penalties — including one that wiped out a 19-yard completion — before Alford rolled left inside the end zone and threw the ball downfield, where Picayune’s Ken Breland intercepted the pass and returned it 24 yards to the Petal 16.

With 36 seconds left in a tie ballgame, all the Maroon Tide needed to do was kill off the clock and let O’Meara do his work.

“Anthony’s made a lot of plays here in the last three years. Obviously I’ve done a poor job of coaching how to take care of the football in those situations. Anthony’s a great football player and a leader on this team, and he’s going to be a leader next week.

“He made two mistakes. I did a poor job of preparing him for when to throw it away.”

Alford rushed 18 times for 125 yards and two touchdowns, but was hurried out of the pocket constantly in the first half, leading to a 2-of-9 effort through the air.

“They were bringing six people and we were in six-man protection,” Buckley said. “Obviously we weren’t stopping enough. I think it was a combination of what they were doing and what we were doing.

“We knew what kind of football team they were. Dodd Lee is a good football coach and he coaches the right way.”

The first half was reminiscent of Week 1 for the Panthers, with an offense that wasn’t quite clicking, but after missing a 40-yard field goal on the first drive of the game, two big runs by Terrance Payne helped set up a 30-yarder that was pushed through the uprights by Tristan Reynolds for a 3-0 lead just over seven minutes into the game.

Payne ran for 81 yards on 10 carries.

Petal’s defense came out of the gates strong, forcing punts on Picayune’s first two possessions, but the Maroon Tide began to roll late in the quarter. Sophomore running back Preston Dedeaux (13 rushes, 95 yards) helped spark things, as did good field position, and a 53-yard drive was capped by 20-yard run up the gut on a handoff to fullback Desmond Taylor (seven carries, 55 yards).

The second quarter got worse for the Panthers, trailing 7-3, when a 42-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left.

Petal junior Larson Barkurn drags Maroon Tide defensive end Doug Cross as he runs downfield. (Photo by David Gustafson)

“We’ve got good kickers and we’ve got good players to play in the kicking game,” Buckley said, “but we’re not a good kicking team right now. That’s my fault.”

It looked like the Petal defense was going to save the day again when John Windham ended a steady Picayune drive by picking off a Ben Hickman pass and returning it 31 yards. A late hit penalty tacked on 10 more yards to the end of the run, and Petal set up shop inside the Tide 10. Two Picayune penalties later and Alford ran right for a two-yard TD. The point-after attempt was missed.

But the 9-7 advantage didn’t last long, as a minute and a half later the Tide were pushing to the goal line — thanks to three runs of over 20 yards — and Magee gave his side a halftime lead, 14-9, with a 3-yard run at 2:02.

The Panther attack pushed the pace in the third quarter, and the result was a sustained 13-play drive that yielded five first downs. Alford and Larson Barkurn both took snaps under center before the former took the football around the right edge for a 7-yard run to the end zone. On the two-point conversion, a Jamarcus Revies fumble found its way into teammate Ryan Sutton’s arms in the end zone. For a three-point, 17-14 lead.

Picayune didn’t find quite as much room in the second half, but Hickman did find Breland over the top for a 53-yard pass that flipped the field before a 22-yard end-around by Jonathan Baker put O’Meara within range to tie things up.

Petal will have no time to dwell on the heartbreaker, as it travels to No. 9 Madison Central on Friday for a third straight tough test. The Jaguars (0-2) fell to No. 22 Starkville this week.

Picayune travels to Forrest County AHS (2-0) in Week 3.

Picayune 20
Petal 17 

Score by Quarter
Picayune                     0   14   0   6—20
Petal                             3     6   8   0—17

First Quarter
PE—Reynolds 30 field goal, 4:49.
Second Quarter
PI—Taylor 20 run, (O’Meara kick), 10:00.
PE—Alford 2 run, (kick failed), 3:32.
PI—Magee 3 run, (O’Meara kick), 2:02.
Third Quarter
PE—Alford 7 run, (Sutton run), 2:10.
Fourth Quarter
PI—O’Meara 26 field goal, 4:08.
PI—O’Meara 29 field goal, :00.

TEAM STATISTICS
PI      PE
First Downs                13                     13
Rushes-Yards               47-297               36-242
Comp-Att-Int               1-8-1                 3-10-1
Passing Yards              53                     48
Total Plays-Yards         55-350               46-290
Fumbles-Lost              0-0                    2-1
Punts-Avg.                  5-41.8               3-44.7
Penalties-Yards            9-78                  11-61

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Picayune—Magee 23-103, Dedeaux 13-95, Taylor 7-55, Baker 3-34, B. Hickman 1-10.
Petal—Alford 18-125, Payne 10-81, Barkurn 8-36.
Passing
Picayune—B. Hickman 1-of-8, 53 yds., Int.
Petal—Alford 2-of-9, 36 yds., Int.; Barkurn 1-of-1, 12 yds.
Receiving
Picayune—Breland 1-53.
Petal—Revies 2- 40, Pollard 1-8.