The Petal Panthers are taking a road trip to take on the Long Beach Bearcats at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Petal knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 31 points or more in their past three contests -- so hopefully Long Beach likes a good challenge.
Petal is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They blew past Hancock, posting a 49-7 victory on the road. Given the Panthers' advantage in MaxPreps' Mississippi football rankings (they are ranked 16th, while the Hawks are ranked 116th), the result on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, Long Beach entered their game against Purvis on Friday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. Long Beach took a hard 49-34 fall against Purvis. The Bearcats gained 224 more yards on the day, but it was the Tornadoes that made the best use of them.
Despite the defeat, Long Beach got top-tier performance from Will Brady, who threw for 174 yards and three touchdowns on only 15 passes, and also rushed for 120 yards on only ten carries. Backing up that air attack was Junior Brown, who rushed for 94 yards.
Petal's win ended a four-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts them at 3-1. As for Long Beach, their loss dropped their record down to 2-2.
Everything came up roses for Petal against Long Beach when the teams last played back in September of 2023, as the squad secured a 42-14 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Petal since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
