Here is an update on recent varsity sports in Pearl River County.

 

Basketball

 

Pearl River Central boy’s basketball team is 9-6 and the girl’s basketball team is 9-4 this season. Both teams will host the Stone Tomcats on Thursday, Dec. 29.

The Lady Blue Devils are suffering a three-game losing streak right now, and their rhythm on offense is nowhere to be found. With that being said PRC was in a very identical situation this time last year and managed to iron out a district championship. Maybe things can turn around just like they did last season. Head Coach Cliff Bauer shared his thoughts on that topic and the season thus far.

He said he’s kind of leaning on a repeat of last year, where they play their best basketball towards the end of the season and onto playoffs.

“The only way to get out of this slump is to keep doing what you do, can’t change anything. Continue to do exactly what we do and then hopefully the ball will start falling,” he said.

He mentioned his girls need to be more aggressive on the defensive end, and he challenged himself to coach his players on being more aggressive.

Picayune boy’s basketball is 6-10 and the girl’s basketball team is 3-12 this season. This weekend the boys broke a three-game losing streak with their 67-63 win over the Saraland Spartans. (Saraland, AL). The girls add to their three-game losing streak after falling 60-17 to D’Iberville. The boys will travel to Brooklyn, MS to face the Forrest County Agricultural Aggies (10-2) on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. The girls will play in the Hub City Christmas Bash Tournament this Thursday, Dec. 22.

Poplarville boy’s basketball is still winless this season at 0-7. The girl’s basketball team is 5-3 this season. The boys will travel to Bay St. Louis to play the Saint Stanislaus Rock-a-Chaws (2-9) on Tuesday, Dec. 27 at 5 p.m. The girls will host the St. Martin Yellowjackets on Thursday, Dec. 29 at 1 p.m.

 

Soccer

 

The PRC boy’s soccer team is 2nd in the district with a 2-1 record and 9-4 overall. The girls are 0-3 in district play and 3-6-1 overall this season. During the year the boys scored 33 goals. Brant Tarter leads all scores with 8 this season, and Christopher Hart is behind him with six goals.

Both will face non-district opponent, Harrison County on Friday, Jan. 6.

The Picayune boys soccer team is 3rd in the district with a 1-2 record and 5-5 overall. The girls are also 3rd in district play at 1-2 with a 4-4-1 overall record.

Picayune’s Mason Plum averages 1.4 goals per game and has 10 total goals this season. Jake Naquin averages five steals a game. Goalkeeper Lane Warino averages 2 saves per game.

Head Coach Brandon Butler shared his input on the season thus far.

“We’re a young team with a bunch of good players but right now we’re a team that beats themselves,” said Butler.

In their previous outing against PRC Butler said they gave up three of PRC’s four goals just off of mistakes. Butler said this has been a season-long issue.

“It seems we make the dumbest mistakes at the wrong time,” he added.

Moving forward Butler is using his tools to his advantage to try and spring his young group into a veterans-performing squad. Using the Huddle Assist program to analyze games has been helpful for Butler and the team. It provides and breaks down statistics. Butler hopes breaking the game numbers down will provide his players with a more learnable perspective. It also allows them to see their time of possession in each game, an important stat the Maroon Tide wants to win in every game.

Both boys and girls teams will face non-district opponent, Moss Point on Friday, Jan. 6.

The Poplarville boy’s and girls’ soccer teams are 1st in district play. The boys are at 4-0 and 6-4-1 overall and the girls are 3-0 and 7-2-1 overall this season. Both will face non-district opponent, Pascagoula on Tuesday, Jan. 3.

 

Wrestling

 

Picayune wrestling is 6-4 this season. Over the weekend they competed in an individual tournament at Vancleave High school. Wrestlers Darian Champlin and Ares Brito placed 5th and Brenden Polkey placed 4th after Saturday’s meet.

Ten matches into the season Head Coach Danny Mosley said Polkey has picked things up well this year and has produced a pretty good season.

“I think we could see him go very far,” he said.

He also added by saying the entire team has come a long way as well. Their growth is seen every week. Picayune this season has competed against St. Martin three times. The first outing they “kicked the crap out of us,” said Mosley. The second time Picayune beat St. Martin by one point. The third time Picayune beat them by 12 points.

“I think going against them we’ve really seen our improvement. I’m very happy with the progress we’ve had especially looking at how young our team is now,” said Mosley.

“I think that over the next few years we’re going to see something really special out of them.”

Picayune’s next meet will be on January 6, at Pearl River High School.