School Spotlight: Long Beach High School (Long Beach, Mississippi)

Our next School Spotlight is covering the Long Beach High School Bearcats. The Bearcats have had some struggles in the recent years as they are currently on a 29 game skid. Head Coach Jacob Massey who is entering his second year as the Bearcats Head Coach believes his team has the fight in them to get over this slump. They had a lot of young guys playing last year, so the experience from playing should help the team in games this next season. The team has really focused on getting back to the basics, working on lots of blocking and tackling along with a big focus on their strength programs. The team has had a very successful offseason so far and look to make some more big strides during the rest of the spring and into the summer.

Coach Massey is a relatively young Head Coach at 32 years old. He started out at DeSoto Central High School for a 3 year stint, before taking an Offensive Coordinator position at Emery High School. He then moved to Petal for 1 year as an Offensive Coordinator before taking over the Head Coaching role at Long Beach in 2022. Coach Massey hired some great staff talent in his first year and retained a good amount of respected coaches from the previous staff. He is prioritizing giving out more reign for the coaches, and trusting them with their respected jobs.

What is your philosophy as a coach?

“I just want to get the most out of my players. We have really emphasized our strength and conditioning, I think that is an important base for success. Once we are stronger and faster as a team we can really roll our sleeves up and go to work. The hard work from those programs will translate into wins on the field.”

Offensively the Bearcats want to keep the opposing teams offense off the field for as long as possible. Tiring out the defense is a strong priority for the offense and that will be done by utilizing an option based offense. On defense they are going to be multiple and looking to be fast and physical.

A returner to look for is 6’0 160 LBS class of 2025 Quarterback Will Brady. Will was having a very impressive sophomore season with 1700 passing yards through six games before going down with season ending shoulder surgery.

Another bright spot on the offense is Ramiro Cooley. Ramiro was the leading wideout for the Bearcats last season before going down with an ACL tear. He should be able to bounce back well in the fall for the Bearcats.

A real talented player on the defensive side of the ball is Middle Linebacker Taj Aubert. Taj is 6’2 215 LBS and is the real statement maker on defense. He is a crucial defensive leader and should have another good season in the fall.

Andre Windham is the definition of an Athlete for the Bearcats. He filled in at the QB position when Brady went down midway through the season. He also plays Safety, he can be plugged into most positions on the field and make an impact.