Petal fought tooth and nail with Meridian Friday night, but in the end, as Panther head coach Marcus Boyles said after the game, it just wasn’t meant to be. The Wildcats won the turnover battle and a decisive second half in defeating the Panthers, 38-28, and advancing to the Class 6A semifinals.
“Meridian came out and did what they had to do to win the football game,” Petal head coach Marcus Boyles said. “We dug ourselves a hole and fought back into the game, but in the second half, it just wasn’t meant to be.”
Down 28-7 at one point in the first half, Petal stormed back to tie it, 28-28, heading into halftime. Panther quarterback Jordan Wilson threw a pair of touchdowns in the half. One went to Nicholas Russell and the other to Trent Williams.
Running backs Semaj Silas and Micah Mcgowan, both filling in for the injured Nataurean Watts, found the end zone, as well.
“We missed Phat [Nataurean] no doubt, but we had some guys step up and make some big plays for us tonight on offense,” Boyles said.
In the second half, Meridian retook control when Jaquaris Dean scored on a 1-yard run. The Wildcats added a field goal off the foot of Nef Rojas to pull away and secure the win in the fourth quarter.
Boyles’ Panthers finish the 2017 season at 8-6 overall.
“To know what all we had to replace from last year and be at this point, it’s like I told them this afternoon, ‘Nobody thought we would be here. Lets go out and have some fun’.”
“Hats off to Meridian,” Boyles added. “They played really well.”
The Wildcats, who improved to 8-6 with the win, will face Pearl next week. Winner of that game advances to the Class 6A State Championship in Oxford.
