News 25’s 25 Teams in 25 Days: Pascagoula Panthers
Some bad news, good news at stop number eight on News 25’s 25 Teams in 25 Days. The bad news, it started raining about five minutes into Pascagoula’s practice. The good news, it started raining after the Panthers took their team pictures.
All that being said, they’re not letting anything rain on their parade heading into 2022.
Head Coach Lewis Sims said, “Some people call it the Chevron effect. Some people say it’s because we’re so close to the beach here. But we don’t get a whole lot of rain. It goes around us usually and the kids make fun of it. They say I control the weather.”
The Panthers controlling what they can control on team picture day, the very same approach that got them through a 4-7 season in 2021 after making it all the way to the 5A South State championship game in 2020. Cornerback Marcellous Parnell said, “We started off kind of bad. But at the end of the season, we had to show people that we’re not going to give up. We’re going to keep pushing and keep going to show people that we’re not bad. We’re actually a good team. We just had a lot of miscommunications on the field, and we just had to show people that we could bounce back from those L’s and take a couple of W’s.”
Pascagoula started 0-4 in Region 4 Class 6A games, including a pair of two-point losses on the road. Wide Receiver Corion Evans said, “We lost to D’Iberville and Harrison Central both by only two points. Like we needed that much more just to beat those teams, and we could’ve been in the playoffs.”
But it was too little, too late. The Panthers dug their own grave, only to rip off three straight wins to end their tale of two seasons, making them one of just two teams from the six coastal counties to string together multiple wins to finish out the year, the other being 5A State Champion Picayune. Right Guard Jeremy Flora said, “We responded well. We just gelled a little too late. But I feel like our team is ready to compete with anybody on the Coast now.”
Quarterback Keilon Parnell said, “Coach told us, like we have to win these three games. Our mindset changed. We didn’t want the seniors last year to go out with three losses. We want at least close to a winning record.”
“Just why not us? I said, we’ve dipped our foot into the 6A waters. We know that we can compete. Now why not us?”
This year’s team asking that same question, led by 17 seniors and at least 12 returning starters including Mississippi State baseball commit and four-year starting Quarterback Keilon Parnell, who accounted for more than 1,500 total yards and 18 total touchdowns as a junior, quarterback meaning quarterback, running back, wide receiver, slot receiver, safety, and Head Coach Lewis Sims even says to expect some three QB sets this season. “If we asked that kid to play guard, he’d just say, change my number coach. He’s that type of guy.”
“Can’t tackle him in a phone booth. He’s been like that since we – we’ve been playing together since pee wee.”
“I try not to let nobody tackle me. I don’t like getting tackled. So that’s my main goal, growing up playing pick it up and run it. Like he said, can’t tackle me in a phone booth.”
One of the guys chasing around the phone-booth specialist is junior four-star Defensive Lineman Jeffery Rush, Jr.
Other guys giving the defense fits are sophomore Quarterback Silas Corder, junior Running Back Cameron DeFlanders, and senior Wide Receiver Corion Evans.
If that last name sounds familiar, it should, the 16-year-old Evans less than a month removed from jumping in the Pascagoula River to help rescue three girls as well as a Moss Point police officer. “Courage is calling. What do you do when courage is called upon? And if you find yourself in a situation, make sure, As Winston Churchill once said, that you are willing and prepared when opportunity arises. And he was willing and he was prepared to take advantage of that opportunity to help those people out. I mean he is the epitome of the WARFACE mentality, and it shows what kind of character he has.”
“Just your character around your teammates, coaches. Your character on the field, sideline, when you’re not in the game what you’re doing, when you’re in the game what you’re doing, so I feel like a lot of that – we’re most definitely further mindset wise because we know what we need to do this year.”
WARFACE stands for ‘work, accountability, respect, family, attitude, character, and enthusiasm.’ The 2022 version of the Pascagoula Panthers wants to be remembered for all seven. “Hopefully we just – we can get back to the playoffs and win state this year.”
“It’s my senior year. It’s weird to say. But it’s my senior year. I’ve got to leave a legacy.”
“We want to leave a legacy behind knowing that we want to set the standard for the younger generation that’s coming up.”
“2022 Panther football is – they’re focused, they’re family and they respect the game in everything that they do.”
A positive update on Coach Sims’ wife, Amber Colville is now cancer free and living her best life.
The Panthers kick off the new year against rival Moss Point on August 26th.
Here are some quick picks from Head Coach Lewis Sims, go to Pascagoula meal is Bozo’s Seafood Market, grilled shrimp overload. On the field, some Mississippi products, Walter Payton and Jerry Rice are his all-time favorites. Favorite championship moment is his Patriots coming back from that 28-3 Super Bowl deficit against the Falcons.
