By Brandon Shields

PEARL — For Pearl it was about going out with a win, and for Meridian it’s now to focus on a very demanding offseason.

Behind a strong ground game, the Pirates got past Meridian 35-19 in the regular season Region 3-7A finale at Ray Rogers Stadium on Thursday night.

“That was big for the seniors to go out with a win. They fought their tails off all year,” said Pearl coach Patrick Schoolar. “We’ve had a lot of adversity, and those kids stayed the course and they fought. We wanted to win for them and proud of the way they fought all year.”

Pearl (3-7, 1-4 Region 3-7A) never trailed.

The Pirates scored on the opening drive of the game as quarterback Dylan Storey faked the hand off and raced 20 yards to the end zone to give Pearl a 7-0 lead with 10:18 left in the first quarter.

After Meridian missed a field goal, Cory Howard raced to the end zone from 26 yards out to stretch the Pirate lead to 14-0 with 1:20 left in the opening quarter.

Meridian cut the lead to 14-7 as quarterback Corey McCann darted into the end zone from 1-yard out with 10:22 left in the second quarter.

Pearl extended their lead to 21-7 as Antwaune Shoto scored on a 6-yard run with 4:25 left before halftime.

The Wildcats scored on the opening drive of the second half as McCann scored on his second 1-yard touchdown run with 6:59 left in the third quarter to cut the Pearl lead to 21-13.

The score stay the same until the first play of the fourth quarter as Kruise Atwood found Kingi McNair on a 28-yard touchdown pass to stretch the Pearl lead to 28-13 with 11:55 left.

After a Meridian fumble, Howard scored his second touchdown of the night from seven yards out to give the Pirates a 35-13 lead with 2:43 left in fourth quarter.

Jetereon Glenn found Jarmarick Leggett on a 58-yard touchdown pass for Meridian to cut the Pearl lead to 35-19 with 1:47 remaining in the game.

Howard finished with 122 yards rushing on just seven carries with two touchdowns to lead Pearl. The Pirates rushed for a total of 267 yards.

“We were able to run the ball a little bit and make some timely passes,” Schoolar said. “Kids played hard and never quit and proud of them. This is going to be a tough offseason and these kids will work.”

Corey McCann finished 20-of-28 passing for 207 yards and added 48 yards rushing on 15 carries with two touchdowns to lead Meridian (4-7, 0-5).

“We’re just not good enough right now at this point and as a program we’re not where we need to be, but we will be better,” said Meridian coach Shelton Gandy. “We’re young and have some bright spots, but we’ve got to have a good offseason and be better. It comes down to execution and we got to make plays.”