News 25’s 25 Teams in 25 Days: Pass Christian Pirates

PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss. (WXXV) — The Pass Christian football program has a new head coach who’s all about winning, which means the Pirates are all about winning.

“It’s easier to follow because you know he’s a man of winning,” said Pass Christian senior defensive end/tight end Jayden Acker. “No one likes losing.”

“Set goals, set expectations and set them too high,” said Pass Christian head football coach Jeff Stockstill. “Set them higher than you think your team can achieve, and push them to be their best.”

Stockstill has a track record that speaks for itself, fresh off back-to-back 2A state championships at Scott Central, where he posted a combined record of 28-2 during that stretch. Now he’s the first-year head coach at Pass Christian.

“I’ve known about the Pass for a long time, played against them, coached against them, and it’s part of a challenge as a coach, you wonder – a lot of guys can coach DI guys, a lot of guys can coach all-state players, but do your philosophies work, do your theories work, do your methods work at other places? So it was a challenge to myself,” said Stockstill.

Stockstill officially hit the ground running in April as the successor to Chase Carmody, who’s now an assistant over at Ocean Springs High School His first order of business – open season on the depth chart.

“They’re going to have to pay rent,” said Stockstill. “Rent is due every day. They have to understand that whatever they did in the past, it washes away every time the sun comes up. They don’t get the job done at practice the next day, then somebody might be in their spot.”

“Nothing is ever given to you in practice or in a game, so every guy that’s starting right now in their mind is thinking, what can I do to keep this spot? Because any given moment, you can get hurt, you can lose your job, anything can happen, so as long as you go in with the mentality, that I’m never going to let anyone over-outshine me in my position, that’s how you can keep your spot,” said Acker.

If past performance is any indication, the Pirates bring back about four or five starters on both sides of the ball, starting on defense with the team’s top three tacklers all returning – senior linebackers Micah McKay and Karsten Mooney, as well as Acker, who also plays some tight end on offense.

They have plenty of weapons on that side of the ball as well, including senior quarterback Ladd Scriber, junior running back Jacquez Alexander-Dedeaux, and senior wideouts Terry Paton, Jr. and Anthony James, Jr.

“We’re going to get in the game, and we’re going to score as quickly as possible,” said Scriber.

“He’s trying to score, like you can tell,” said Patton, Jr. “You’re going to see this year. Some plays we’ve got, you’re going to see. We’re just trying to score.”

“I like the plays that score, and whatever players get it in the end zone, we try to utilize players versus plays,” said Stockstill.

Another big point of emphasis this off-season – finishing practice.

“Practice relates into the game, so how you practice is how you’re going to play, so when we don’t finish in practice, we’re never going to finish in a game,” said Acker.

“You can put in so much work, but if you don’t finish, none of that means nothing,” said Patton, Jr. “You’re still 0-1. If you don’t make one throw or if you don’t make one catch, you don’t make one cut, you miss a tackle, you’ve got to finish.”

“Finish, like he said earlier at the end of practice, finishing is really what we need to do,” said Scriber. “No matter how tired you are, we’ve got to get to that fourth quarter buzzer, and look up at that scoreboard and we’ve got to be on top.”

Finishing also translates to Friday nights. Last season, the Pass jumped out to an overall record of 5-2, before losing three straight games to end the year – all by double digits – including a 40-12 first round playoff loss at Poplarville, ending at 5-5 with a Region 8 Class 4A mark of 2-2.

“We really just had the mentality that we knew we were going to win, and I think as the season progressed, we got kind of tired, and people might’ve started slacking a little bit, whether it was in the weight room or out at practice, not showing up to school,” said Scriber. “But this year, I definitely think that Coach Stockstill coming in as a new guy, he’s gotten us to buy in, and I think with that, people are excited about this year and want to come to practice.”

“There’s some days they may not want to practice, but if they want to win, they’re going to have to show up every day and do what needs to be done,” said Stockstill.

Stockstill’s charge to his 16 seniors (and the rest of the team) – play your guts out.

The Pirates have made the playoffs two years in a row, but they’re still in search of their first-ever district title and their first playoff win since 2019, when they won their first-ever postseason game.

Essentially – the Pass isn’t passing up the chance to do what’s never been done in the past.

“They want to take the next step,” said Stockstill. “They want to be a little better than they were last year, little better than they were the year before.”

“Just getting better every day, just one percent better,” said Patton, Jr.

“Each week is a new beginning,” said Scriber. “We can’t think about last week. We just want to get to that championship. We’re all hungry for it.”

“I want to win so I can always have my name in the Pass High record books for winning,” said Acker. “Heck, I want to win a state championship this year. Anything I can do to help my team win, that’s what I’m willing to do.”

The Pass kicks off its 2023 campaign at home against rival Long Beach in the Oyster Bowl on August 25.