LONG BEACH – Brookhaven brought the heat on Long Beachquarterback Anthony D’Angelo in the second half, and battered theBearcats’ leader in their last-gasp comeback attempt.

But when it was over, and the Panthers escaped with a 23-21 victoryat Lumpkin-Magee Stadium on Friday night, all D’Angelo could thinkabout was the teammates he’d played with for the final time.

“It’s tough. I’ve grown up here, grown close to these guys,” anemotional D’Angelo said. “It’s tough, being the No. 1 seed andlosing in the playoffs. We played our hearts out, but we made toomany mistakes.”

Long Beach finished the season 10-2. Brookhaven improved to 7-4with the upset and showed plenty of resolve in the secondhalf.

The Panthers’ Dewey Stailey kicked a 20-yard field goal for thegame’s final points with 1:33 left in the third quarter, and theyintercepted D’Angelo three times, including Greg Sims’ 33-yardreturn for a pick six midway through the second quarter.

“We were able to get momentum on our side in the second half,”Brookhaven coach Tucker Peavey said. “Our kids played hard. Eventhe games we’ve lost, we’ve played to the finish. I think thatmight have paid off tonight.”

D’Angelo completed 26 of 44 passes for 301 yards. Tight end NedRushing led the Bearcats with 12 receptions for 142 yards, andwideout Patric Devlin had six catches for 35 yards. The Bearcats’Richie Brown had touchdown runs of 9 and 5 yards in the first halfand turned in a strong game at linebacker.

Long Beach did everything it could to keep Brookhaven quarterbackDuwone Harris bottled up, but he finished the game with 154 yardsrushing and threw a 62-yard touchdown pass to Ross Hill in theopening moments of the second half.

“We kind of fell asleep at some key points in the game,” Brownsaid. “(Harris) was tough, but we could have executedbetter.”

Brookhaven will host Wayne County in the next round of the Class 5Aplayoffs. The War Eagles stopped Moss Point 35-28.

“We’ve been going at each other for years,” Peavey said.

Long Beach coach Tommy Browder said the Bearcats’ inexperience inthe state playoffs might have been a factor. Long Beach had achance to take a 14-0 lead in the first quarter before turning theball over on downs at the Brookhaven 5-yard line.

“We moved the ball all night and didn’t get it done in the redzone,” Browder said. “We haven’t been here before, and I was afraidit would affect us. It really did. Their quarterback is a heckuvaplayer and they’re very good up front.

“I thought we had the better team, but you’ve got to hand it toBrookhaven. They kept themselves in the game and deserved towin.”

The Bearcats’ Milton Britton opened the scoring with a 7-yard runbut was treated for an injury in the second half and didn’t return.Long Beach was penalized 11 times for 100 yards.

“I think we’ve left the program in good shape for the youngerguys,” D’Angelo said, “but it’s hard, losing your last game athome.”

The Panthers limited Long Beach to just 48 rushing yards. Bycomparison, BHS amassed 244 rushing yards. Travorius Showers rushed15 times for 89 yards.