BRANDON — Two weeks, two key region road wins for Petal.
Behind a sting defense along with the play of Caiden Belton and Malcom Fornerette the Panthers held off a late Brandon comeback 27-21 to win their fifth straight game in a pivotal Region 3-7A matchup at Bulldog Stadium on Friday night.
“Big thing tonight was to get pressure on the quarterback because Brandon has weapons all over the place and I thought our line got pressure on him and made him uncomfortable,” said Marcus Boyles. “Our defense played like we’re used to them playing in the first half, but the second half they stepped up.”
The Panthers started the game out with a bang as Fornerette returned the opening kickoff. 91 yards for a touchdown to take a 7-0 lead with 11:47 left in the first quarter.
Petal extended their lead to 14-0 as Belton found Fornerette on a 13-yard touchdown pass with 49 seconds left in the first quarter.
Brandon got on the board in the second quarter as Sladen Shack found Eli Morey on a 12-yard touchdown pass to cut the Panther lead to 14-7 with 7:38 left.
The Bulldogs tied the game at 14-14 as Lahare Bolls intercepted a pass and raced 40 yards to the end zone with 6:16 left in the first half.
Petal answered on their next drive as Belton powered his way into the end zone from three yards out to take a 21-14 lead with 2:46 left.
The scored stayed the same until 6:54 left in the fourth quarter as Sam Haydel booted a 24-yard field goal to extend the Panthers lead to 24-14.
Brandon instantly responded as Shack hit Tyson Robinson on a 69-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 24-21 with six minutes left in the fourth quarter.
After the Panthers forced a turnover on downs at the Bulldog 26-yard line Haydel hit a 26-yard field to extend the lead to 27-21 with 2:10 remaining.
On the Brandon final drive that started at the Petal 47-yard line the Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs on three incomplete passes and Panther defensive tackle Cory Wells recorded a sack on second down to help seal the win.
Belton finished 10-of-17 passing for 140 yards with a touchdown, two interceptions, and added a rushing touchdown to lead Petal (6-2, 2-0 Region 3-7A).
“Malcom showed out tonight. He was big time and was electric. Run game was there when we needed it, but the passing game was big tonight,” Belton said. “This is a big win and now 2-0 in region and now we can feed off this win heading into next week. I am exciting.”
Fornerette had five catches for 117 yards with a touchdown, and a kickoff return for a touchdown.
“Malcom played big for us. He gets overshadowed, but he showed what he’s capable of and he’s probably the fastest guy on the team,” Boyles said. “It’s big to win at Oak Grove and at Brandon back-to-back weeks, but in this region it gets no easier so we got to ready for Pearl.”
Shack finished with 140 yards passing and two touchdowns to lead Brandon (3-4, 1-1).
