25 Teams in 25 Days: Long Beach Bearcats

The Long Beach Bearcats are ready to put last season behind them. After winning just one game in 2025, Long Beach has spent the offseason working to get better. The Bearcats say the focus has been on creating a team that is ready to compete until the clock hits zero in the 4th quarter.

“We lost a lot of seniors from last year but luckily we had a bunch of juniors that have played a lot and we had some younger guys that played too. So as far as experience goes we’re fairly experienced, we got quite a few of our defensive guys back… Most of our offensive lineman are back. We’re not terribly inexperienced… We got a lot of guys who’s played a lot of football. It starts in the offseason our seniors have been absolutely great as far as their work ethic and what they’ve done and they’ve kind of changed the way we go about our business here. Last year was my first year as a head coach at long beach and you know it takes time to kind of develop the culture that you want and this group of seniors have really bought into what we’re doing. We’ve changed a little bit offensively and defensively they just want to win so we really worked hard in the offseason and have continued to work hard that’s all that we can do. If you work hard and do things the right way you know hopefully it will show up on Friday night and we’ll be able to get some wins. Probably the two biggest things, in the weight room we’ve gotten stronger. We’ve never been as strong as we needed to be and I think that is something that we worked extremely hard in the weight room on and we got some guys that are up to numbers that would be competitive in this classification in football. I think that is one of the biggest things and we worked a lot on our speed, coach Fortenberry is our track coach and he’s one of my assistance’s and during the offseason we worked a lot on our speed trying to improve that and that comes with getting stronger as well,” Head Coach Cody Finley said.

Long Beach will also look to its returning players to provide leadership for a team determined to change its fortunes. The Bearcats know improvement will require every player to buy into the program and that starts with the work being put in before Friday nights.

“We’ve prepared well this season and we’ve put in a lot of work and just hoping to leave everything out on the field this season. We hope to win some games but if we can show improvement in other areas as well I think that would be just as fine too honestly,” senior running back Aidan Adkins said.

“I’m real excited, I’m just ready to hit people… I’m really expecting the defense to do the best it can including the offense. That’s all I want from my guys they are basically my family, I just want them to try their hardest and I’m going to try and push them. I love this senior group, they are my friends basically my family glad to end it off with them. We’ve been putting in the work, putting in the hours, been showing up on time even a little early we just try our hardest,” senior linebacker Kaden Massey said.

The Bearcats know they have an opportunity to show just how much they’ve grown and they’re ready to see that work pay off.

“Yeah we’re a lot more locked in, this senior class is a lot more serious. Last year’s group played around a little bit but we’re definitely more locked in and ready. We’ve been family for almost six years, I love them they are my buddies,” senior nose guard Brody Peeler said.

“This year we have a lot of seniors and I feel like we’re more locked in this year so we all want to win…We got to do what we got to do. I’m reliable you know, last year I didn’t have too many dropped passes probably one or two and I want to move that up this year and have zero drops and have around 1,000 yards hopefully. We been in the weight room everyday so I mean we’re all getting bigger, stronger, and faster that’s the goal to compete with the bigger schools like Pascagoula and Picayune the powerhouses you know so we’re trying to get to that level,” senior receiver Benjamin Alsaker said.

“We’ve always had good support here even when we’re not winning and that’s been for a long time around here we still on Friday night theirs a lot of people in the stands. I think and I expect just like last year, things may not be going our way or whatever may happen but we’re going to have guys show up and play hard. They are not going to quit, they are going to keep playing and represent the high school in the right way,” Finley said.

“I think we’re going to be pretty good this season, come and show support. We’ll show you what we’ve been doing this offseason,” Adkins said.

“We’re going to come hit, we’re going to come play, we’re going to try every possible play to just to destroy them,” Massey said.

“Come out and watch even if we don’t win. Just come out and watch and show the support, it really means a lot,” Peeler said.

“Come out and support you know, especially being my last year so if you want to see a special game come and watch us,” Alsaker said.

The Long Beach Bearcats will open the 2026 season on Friday august 28th, when they defend home against Pass Christian.