Top sports stories across the Coast in 2021
The Picayune Maroon Tide tops our sports stories for 2021. Who can forget the high school football team of destiny from 2021, the Picayune Maroon Tide?
On the first Saturday in December, the Tide rolled to its first 5A state crown since 2013 by way of a 40-21 revenge win over the same team that beat them in the 2020 title game, the West Point Green Wave.
Second year Head Coach Cody Stogner got the Gatorade bath then hoisted the program’s third gold ball in the last 11 years with former coach the legendary Dodd Lee by his side.
Junior running back Dante Dowdell was the MVP.
We head to Long Beach High School for the honorable mention sports story of 2021 and that’s where we find kicking queen Ashton Rupert. A four-sport athlete who’s heading to East Central Community College to continue her soccer career, Rupert made her name as the Bearcat’s starting kicker.
In October, the senior kicked a successful extra point on the same night she won homecoming queen. She’s now the second female kicker to be coached by Ryan Ross to score a point and win homecoming queen on the same night, following Ocean Springs Kaylee Foster in 2018.
Let’s go ahead and give a shoutout to Mississippi State’s baseball team and Ole Miss’ women’s golf team, both for winning NCAA championships.
