Long-suffering MS Coast program is 2-1 for the first time since 2018 after thrilling win

Jacob Massey is bringing more than just the double wing offense back to life.

The third-year Long Beach coach has the Bearcats 2-1 for the first time in six years after a thrilling 36-35 win over Bay High Friday.

“A lot of these kids played as freshmen and sophomores my first year and they’ve grown up a lot,” Massey told the Sun Herald following the win over the Tigers. “They just worked their tails off. We come to work every day even when it was tough those first two years, those kids hung in there. That’s our core group.”

Running back Junior Brown is one of those core players. The junior gashed the Tigers for three rushing touchdowns and scored the go-ahead two-point conversion in a contest that became an exhaustive back-and-forth affair in the second half.

The fourth quarter saw five combined touchdown drives and ended in a four-minute Bearcat possession buoyed by a long pass from Will Brady to SJ Valentine and capped by Andre Windham’s eight-yard end-around touchdown with 21 seconds left.

Brown bulldozed his way across the plane on the next play to give LBHS the lead and the statement win.

Week 3 scoreboard: The latest high school football scores from wild night across South MS

“I’m a senior and this was really important,” Windham said. “To finally beat (Bay High) and finish through the whole game, it’s exciting. It’s great.”

The win snapped a three-game losing streak to the Tigers and was the first over The Bay since 2018 — the last time LBHS had a winning record three weeks into the season.

Building back the Bearcats

Few upper classification schools in Mississippi have struggled to compete in recent years quite like the Bearcats have. Long Beach is 6-49 since 2019 and has not won a district game in the last 35 tries.

But the skies are getting brighter. Massey’s team snapped a 32-game losing streak last season and ended up with two wins on the year, which matched the program’s win total across four seasons from 2019 to 2022.

Now the Bearcats have a chance to do something next week that’s only been done once in the last 12 seasons: start the year 3-1.

“Summer workouts we came in hard,” Windham said of the attitude shift within the program. “Nobody plays around and everybody wants to win together. Years before, it was individual, individual. But now we’re a real team. We all want to win and we all believe we can win.”

The mentality change has added a level of resiliency that was previously non-existent. Long Beach weathered a myriad of mistakes against the Tigers.

Brown fumbled at the goal line on the Bearcats’ first possession. He fumbled again in the fourth quarter deep in LBHS’ own territory and it led to a lead-snatching Tiger touchdown with seven minutes left to play.

Even after LBHS responded with a 30-yard jaunt to the house by Brown, The Bay quickly answered with what should have been a back-breaking 80-yard touchdown pass from Xander Ladner to Jackson Calloway.

But the Bearcats refused to fold.

“It goes back to us not wanting to give up,” Windham said. “We finally wanted it more. We didn’t give up and ended up winning the game.”

Brown scored on runs of 48, 13 and 30 yards out of Massey’s multiple wishbone offense. He’s building off a breakout sophomore season in which in he cleared 1,000 yards and scored 20 times.

He opened the year with a two-touchdown, 125-yard performance in the Bearcats’ first win over Pass Christian since 2017. Brown has quietly become one of the best backs on the Coast and is a key piece to the Bearcat rebuild.

“Just talking about the resiliency of that kid, he could’ve really hung his head,” Massey said of Brown’s performance against the Tigers. “He stayed in there and made the plays and helped us win the football game.”

Long Beach is far from a finished product but has the attention of its district rivals. The Bearcats have eight more chances to earn their third win of the year, which would also be a six-year first.

But simply notching the win column isn’t the end goal. The players building the foundation have sights set high.

“Keep the momentum,” Windham said. “We got our homecoming next week. We win that game, maybe win another game, maybe win another game. Keeping going in district and then playoffs.”

Long Beach returns home next week for a date with Purvis.

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