The five biggest stories from a thrilling Week 3 of high school football across South MS

The third week of the high school football season produced some of the best games of the young season on the Mississippi Coast.

A rivalry classic, comeback win and a new record broken highlight the exciting Friday night slate. Check out the full list of scores at SunHerald.com.

These were the five biggest stories of week three on the Coast.

Long Beach coming to life

The Bearcats are off to the program’s fastest start in six years. A wild 36-35 win over Bay High gave Long Beach a 2-1 record for the first time since 2018.

Jacob Massey’s team has matched their win total from all of last season and have clinched back-to-back multi-win seasons for the first time since 2017-18. Junior Brown scored three rushing touchdowns against the Tigers with two coming from 30-plus yards.

Long Beach has a win over Pass Christian, as well. Its defense has improved from 45.7 points allowed per game through the first three contests of 2023 to 25.7 a game this year against the same competition.

Injuries plague Rebels

Biloxi made surprisingly easy work of George County in a 30-13 romp on the road. The Rebels were hampered early on with injuries at significant positions.

Five star quarterback and Notre Dame commit Deuce Knight suffered a lower body injury in the first quarter. He returned later but left the game again after only three plays. His replacement, Brenn Moody, also got hurt and missed the rest of the game. George County put four different players behind center and never found a rhythm offensively.

Biloxi’s Jalen Anderson returned an interception 32 yards for a score in between a passing and rushing touchdown from Indians quarterback Wyatt Pyron.

Singing River showdown

One of the Coast’s best rivalry games didn’t disappoint. Gautier outlasted Pascagoula at home, 38-31, to win its third game in the series over the last four meetings.

It was a much-needed bounce back for the Gators, who struggled in the loss against D’Iberville last week and have been playing without star running back Solomon Baggett. Gautier got two rushing touchdowns from quarterback Trey Irving and the game-winner in the final minute from Latrell Pogue.

Pascagoula’s Silas Corder threw for 344 yards and two touchdowns in the losing effort. Both teams are 2-1 and looking to avoid post-rivalry emotional let downs next week when the Gators face Moss Point and the Panthers battle D’Iberville.

New record in Popvegas

Poplarville squeezed past Newton County for a 34-31 win and in the process put a new leader on top of the school’s all-time wins leader board. It was Jay Beech’s 109th win at the helm of the Hornets.

Beech accomplished the milestone in his now-11th season, averaging double-digit wins a year with a remarkable 30 playoff wins. Still, the Hornets are off to their first 3-0 start since 2017 this season with all coming by single digits.

Nick Miller ran for 130 yards and scored four touchdowns in the most recent win, including a 90 yard kick return score.

Picayune pulls off comeback

Picayune needed all 240 of Darrell Smith’s rushing yards to race past D’Iberville. The Maroon Tide erased a 19-7 halftime deficit and blanked the Warrior offense in the second half.

Smith scored on the ground twice and quarterback Brandon Parker added another. It was an important win for a Picayune roster that replaced mass production from a season ago.

On the flip side, the Warriors have impressed in the early going with dominant wins over Columbia and Gautier and a strong showing against the Tide.