by Hunter Dawkins
The Bay St. Louis Tigers were no match for the Bearcats and their late addition of 2017 All-State 5A Running Back Dennis Andrews with Long Beach winning 53-21. Bearcats (1-1) senior recovering from a lengthy leg injury put together six carries for 148 yards and a score.
“Dennis is an all-heart kid,” said Long Beach Head Coach Philip Pigott. “Our kids definitely feed off that, but he is certainly humble and wants his team to win.”
After the Tigers (0-3) kicked off to the Bearcats, Andrews popped out a 67-yard scamper on the second play for a touchdown with 11:10 left. The extra point was blocked by Bay High speedster Maxwell Lewis, the score was merely 6-0 Long Beach.
Immediately, the Bearcats defender J.R. McFarland recovered a fumble on the second play offensively for the Tigers and ran it back 21-yards for a touchdown with 10:26 left in the first quarter. The Tiger’s Lewis blocked his second extra point for a 12-0 lead by the Bearcats.
Bay High ran a lengthy ten-play series, only to come up with nothing where Long Beach gunslinging Quarterback Cade Crosby took over on downs and hit Kobe Cook for a 74-yard touchdown pass with 38 seconds left in the first quarter. Kai Van Court finally converted his extra point for a 19-0 lead at the end of the quarter.
The Tigers didn’t give up, as running back Skylar Primus dove in for a 5-yard touchdown after an eleven play series. Bay Kicker Dawson Kotsakos kicked the extra point through the uprights with 8:16 left in the half for a 19-7 Long Beach lead.
Quickly answering, the Bearcats quarterback Crosby powered through a line from 14-yards out for a touchdown run with 6:44 left in the half for a 25-7 lead.
Bay and Long Beach traded two possessions a piece before Bearcats defensive back McFarland intercepted the Tigers pass deep in their territory with 1:03 left in the half. The Bearcats used timeouts and field position to put together a five play 17-yard touchdown pass from Crosby to Receiver Logan Matherne with no time left. Once Van Court converted, the halftime score was 32-7.
Turnovers were killer for Bay, as they fumbled inside the red zone after an 8-play drive. “We went to the Wing-T as an offense because we felt like it fit better,” said Bay High Football Coach Ben Foreman. “We just didn’t execute tonight and made too many mistakes.”
Crosby ran in for a Bearcats touchdown from 10 yards out with 6:30 left in the third for his second touchdown. When Van Court kicked the extra point through, the new score was 39-7.
Bay High did show speed with two more scores from Semaj Robertson from 7 and 22 yards out.
Crosby threw for one more touchdown as Dalton Cook ran home on a 52-yard strike. Bearcats Jersey Foxworth returned a kick from 75 yards to finish up the scoring for the Bearcats night, as the final score was 53-21.
Crosby threw for 257 yards for the Bearcats and had 56 yards rushing with two scores.
Long Beach plays at Vancleave next Friday 7pm.
