Pearl River Central played one of its most complete games in the 4-5A district opener against Long Beach Friday night. But, it wasn’t enough to keep up with the Bearcats’ offense as the Blue Devils lost 35-20 at home.

“Our kids saw that we can move the ball down the field and maybe we can find out what we need to be doing. I was impressed with our effort, Long Beach just made some good plays,” PRC Head Coach Larry Dolan said.

Late in the 3rd and 4th quarters, the Blue Devils defense forced a number of Bearcats penalties and errors that boded well for the Blue Devils. However, it seemed like every time Long Beach had its back against the wall, the team came up with a huge play, including a pair of touchdown runs by Dennis Andrews for 39 and 37 yards in the second half.

The Blue Devils did manage to squeak into a one score deficit late in the game after punching in a one-yard run with 6:59 to go in the fourth, narrowing the deficit to 28-20 following a successful two-point conversion.

However, Long Beach returned with the 37-yard touchdown run to cement the Bearcats’ 35-20 district win.

“Our road is only getting tougher, so we need to just understand that we can compete with these teams and I think they started to see that tonight,” Dolan said.

Quarterback Cameron Brunson also contributed with a one-yard QB sneak touchdown in 3rd quarter.

PRC will play host to Waynesboro next Friday to take on Wayne County at 7 p.m.