“Game by game, I’m just ready,” said senior running back Amarie Jackson. “We’ve got so many dogs, it’s going to be exciting like last year, but it’s going to be better this year because we’ve got way more dogs.”
The 2024 season for the Pascagoula Panthers was indeed exciting, going 9-3 and making it to the second round of playoffs, but there’s something different in the air at War Memorial Stadium under Lewis Sims for his 15th season.
“It’s just so much fun to come out and watch how these guys grow from their very first day of freshman year until they graduate as seniors,” said Head Coach Lewis Sims. “This is a special group we have this year, and we’re hoping to see them do great things.”
Possibly one of the biggest senior classes on the coast, the Panthers have 22 seniors ready to lead and ready to win.
“We’ve always felt that leadership role,” said senior linebacker and edge Jarrad Loper Jr. “We’ve always felt like we had so much talent. Just finally being able to say we are the seniors and we’re the leaders of the team just feels good and to know you have all these guys that have your back, that just hits different.”
“I’m very excited. This is going to be the season for all of us,” said senior safety Tylan Wilson. “It’s our senior year and all of the guys are going to go crazy. We’ve been here since we were kids playing on the kids over that and it’s been a journey.”
“We stay together. We are one as a team. We’re brothers and we love each other,” said senior wide receiver Darius “Duke” Carter. “We stand by each other everyday.”
“It’s special,” said Jackson. “Hopefully we set a record for signing day, but as of right now we have at least 12-15 guys that are going to sign. It’s going to be special this year.”
“Very special. There’s a whole lot of characters,” said senior safety Tamero Johnson. “It’s fun, and when it’s time for business we lock in.”
It’s one thing to have a lot of seniors on the team, and a completely different thing to expect every single one of them to heavily contribute. As for what’s expected from them this season, here’s what they have to say.
“A lot of rushing touchdowns. We’re going to have a couple passing, but we’re going to have a lot of rushing touchdowns,” Jackson said. “It’s going to be a great running game and extra lineman to help the running game out. We’ve got a lot of good receivers and everybody’s got offers, so we’ll be great this year.”
“Our route running and our speed is top tier,” Carter said. “We’ve got some great receivers and we’re just ready to come out and compete.”
“We’ve got two SEC safeties, and a mighty linebacker. I know you’re scared of him. He’s just like that, Jarrad Loper,” Wilson said. “We’ve got three corners just like that and we can run anything. We can run a 4-3-5, 3-3-6, we can run any defense out there. We all know ball.”
“Just know we’ve got the offense’s back,” said Loper. “We can always score the ball whenever. Turnovers were big for us last year. It’s won us a lot of games.”
The Panthers only needed to replace three starters this 2025 season, but one of them is a biggie. Now that Silas Corder has ended his legendary high school career, Coach Lewis is confident sophomore Jason Glaude is ready to set in as their new signal caller.
“Replacing Silas was a big deal, but Jason Glaude has had just a tremendous spring and a tremendous summer, so he’s looking to fill those shoes coming in and directing our offense,” Coach Lewis said. “It’s really nice when you have the weapons that he has around him. All your skill positions know what to do, so really and truly they’re able to go to Jason and say ‘Hey Jason, we got your back man. You take care of the football, deliver it and we’ll take care of the rest.’ The lineman do the same thing. ‘Jason, we’ve got your back, you do your job, and we’ll do ours.’”
The blue and red are eager to do their jobs, but it won’t come easy. With one of their toughest schedules to date, they’re hopefully it’ll get them where they want to be in the end.
“I’m looking forward to the schedule because it’s really going to be a challenge for us, and how we respond to that challenge and how we can handle adversity and setbacks and how we can overcome those difficulties. It’s going to dictate where we end up this season,” Coach Sims said. “
“My sophomore year we made the playoffs and lost in the second round. My third year we lost in the second round. We’ve just got to come together and get over that hump so we can make it that way,” Wilson said.
“We beat ourselves,” Carter said. “The second round gets us every year. We’re going to get past it this year though and try to get that ring.”
“My successful season is to win a gold ball,” Johnson said. “I don’t have any self goals, but my successful season is winning a gold ball with my brothers for our last year.”
“I can trust these guys to help me get after that hump, like you said, that second round hump. We’re try... Click here to read full article
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