Tony Vance had the look of a coach who was searching for answers that wouldn’t come.
For the third year in a row – and for the second consecutive season at home – Vance’s Hattiesburg Tigers are finished after a first-round defeat in the postseason.
Pascagoula made a first-quarter touchdown stand up for a 7-6 victory over the Tigers Friday night in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs at D.I. Patrick Stadium.
The Panthers improved to 8-3 overall and advanced to a road rematch with Region 4-6A rival Picayune next week in the second round. Hattiesburg completed its season 7-4.
“I thought our defense played a great game,” said Vance. “Our coaches did a great job of preparing them, and they played their pants off on that side of the ball. We hold a team to one score, that’s a game we feel like we should win.”
Pascagoula made one big play on its first possession of the game stand up, thanks to stalwart defense that bent at times, but only broke once.
“This was by far our best defensive game of the season,” said Pascagoula coach Lewis Sims. “They stood up when it counted. All the credit to Hattiesburg; they’re a heck of a football team.
“We’re so fortunate to come out with a W. But at the end of the day, it’s playoff football, and you couldn’t ask for a better football game.”
The swarming Panthers blitzed freely and made life miserable for Tiger junior quarterback Deuce Vance.
“We missed some guys, and we had some drops on some balls,” said Vance. “It is what it is. At the end of the day, it’s football. It’s a lot like life. Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way.”
Deuce Vance was credited with 18 rushes for a net of minus-6 yards, which included two high snaps for 30 yards in losses, and four sacks for another 20 lost yards.
“That was the plan,” said Sims. “We just knew we had had to stay in. He’s such a good athletic quarterback, and he’s such a student of the game. We knew we had to be gap-savvy, and when did have opportunities to put pressure on, we had to make sure we got him down.”
Vance was harassed every time he tried to pass, completing just 9 of 24 for 146 yards, most of that in the second half.
The pattern was set on the opening possession of the game. Pascagoula won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, and Hattiesburg took the opening kickoff and drove for two first downs before the Panthers stiffened near midfield.
The Tigers came in with a reputation for their defense, and after a punt, they forced Pascagoula into a third-and-14 from the Panther 20-yard line.
But junior quarterback Silas Corder found junior Christopher Campbell open over the middle on a slant pattern, and Campbell motored past the defense for an 80-yard touchdown.
Sophomore Wyatt McAdams was good on the PAT kick, and just like that, the Panthers had all the points they would end up needing.
“Third and long, they gave us what we wanted, and we just took it,” said Corder, who finished 7 of 17 for 114 yards.
“They gave us an off-three type coverage. They had a guy in our point man’s face, and that left a ravine of space open over the middle for our slot guy to go and get it and score.”
From there, the game fell into a back-and-forth contest of mistakes and missed opportunities on both sides.
Pascagoula would finish with just seven first downs for the game, and were stopped twice on fourth down in the first half, once on an 11-yard sack from the Tiger 39, and the other on a fake punt near midfield.
Tiger senior Taveres Wade helped out his defense, averaging 41.6 yards on five punts, and he was also Hattiesburg’s best weapon on offense, rushing 23 times for 85 yards.
“I came out of the game tonight, and I’m not tired, so I don’t think I left everything out on the field,” said Wade. “So I’m not proud of myself. I let my guys down.
“They blitzed a lot, almost every play. There were some guys who were unaccounted for. Sometimes we picked them up, sometimes we didn’t. So that kind of slowed down our running game.”
The Panthers had a promising drive in the second quarter thwarted by an interception on fourth down, and their best drive of the second half, coming after the Tigers scored their only touchdown, ended with a pick in the end zone.
Hattiesburg dominated the second half with three possessions that ate up more than 16 minutes, and the Tiger cashed the first one in for a touchdown, an eight-play, 67-yard march with Vance getting the score on a 6-yard run.
Vance hooked up with junior Demarcus Baker for a 41-yard pass play to get the drive going, after losing 17 yards on a high snap with the first play of the possession. Wade also had a 14-yard pickup and Vance converted a fourth down with a 17-yard toss to senior Tamoz Barnes.
However, Wade’s PAT kick was wide right, and that would prove to be the difference on the scoreboard.
“I was just trying to get the defense in the best possible position we can ever if we don’t get points on the board,” said Wade. “We just didn’t get it done.”
Hattiesburg got the ball right back after the ensuing kickoff. Panther sophomore Amarie Jackson ripped off a 37-yard run to get Pascagoula in Tiger territory at the 28-yard-line, but two plays later, Baker snagged an underthrown ball in the end zone to stop the threat.
The Tigers took over at their own 20 and embarked on a long march that used up nearly eight minutes and got as far as the Panther 14.
But Vance was stopped for a 6-yard loss on a keeper, then on third-and-15, Parnell came free for a 6-yard sack, and Vance’s fourth-down pass went nowhere.
“They’ve got a great defense,” said Vance. “I told everybody all week, they probably should have been the No. 2 in their region. But they’ve got a really good football team, and they played that way tonight.”
Pascagoula wasn’t able to do much with the ensuing possession, but a good punt pinned the Tigers at their own 13-yard-line with 6:04 to play in the game.
The Tigers were able to convert a fourth down on a 14-yard pass from Vance to Barnes, but on fourth-and-1 from the Panther 39, Vance was stopped for a 2-yard loss, and that was the ball game.
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