LONG BEACH, Miss. (WLOX) \u2014<\/p>\n
The class of 2026 for the Long Beach football team has experienced more adversity than many other classes on the coast. <\/p>\n
The group has had two different head coaches while never seeing a season with more than two wins but now in their second year under head coach Cody Finley this senior class is looking to use their experience to help bring the Bearcats to new heights in 2026. <\/p>\n
Finley believes it\u2019s the experience this group has had starting as underclassmen that will bring positive effects to friday nights. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have got a lot of our guys back,\u201d said Finley. \u201cThey played a lot of football and that is the good thing about this group of guys. A lot of our seniors have been playing since they were sophomores so they understand and the stage is not to big for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are usually a pretty young team,\u201d said linebacker Landon Thode. \u201cYou get a lot of playing time as a freshman and it just adds up over the years. By the time you are a senior it is like you are going in to another day at practice in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are definitely one of the most physical and most locked in group of seniors that have come through Long Beach in a long time,\u201d said defensive end Timothy West.<\/p>\n
Finley believes it is not only the experience that makes this group so special but their desire to play football each and every day which in turn creates better leaders both on and off the field. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis group is kind of special because even when they were freshmen they were a more serious group. That has shaped the way we go about our business now because I have always told them that everyone always follows the leader. These guys have really gone about it the right way and I think it is the best group we have had as far as focusing on the details of what we want to accomplish,\u201d Finley said. <\/p>\n
\u201cEver since we came into high school there have been a select few people that I can say all of us have looked up to,\u201d said running back Gavin Sutherlin. \u201cI feel like everyone below us can look up to all of us. We all have leadership, every single one of us. So I feel like we can lead as an example for all our younger guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely have to lead by example here because from the previous history of Long Beach we have to show the younger ones that you have to keep going no matter what the score, or the record was,\u201d said linebacker Dereon Gill. \u201cYou have to show a good example for them.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Bearcats finished the 2025 season with only a single win over Bay and while their district opponents are some of the toughest on the coast, Long Beach understands playing a complete game of football gives them the best chance to succeed.<\/p>\n
\u2018I think it is understanding our situations in games. I think we had a problem with that at times. Maybe we come into the fourth quarter, down seven, we would hold our heads low in a way. I think it is just understanding our situation and better preparing for those situations which we are doing now with practice,” Thode said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese past few years I feel like we have never been a second half or fourth quarter team, but I feel like our senior class can really change that this season. I feel like we can put effort in and bring our mentality and the physicality throughout the entire game. Not just the first half. If we are down, we will not give up. We will come at them with all we have,\u201d Sutherlin said.<\/p>\n
The Bearcats are coming into the 2026 season with a chip on their shoulder, ready to change the narrative of Long Beach football. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not the same old Long Beach, we are tired of that and we have been tired,\u201d Thode said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are coming after it. You all better be ready,\u201d West said. <\/p>\n
\u2018We have something to prove. We have been took as a joke and I feel like we have to have that mindset where we have to bring it against each team we play. We have to prove them wrong,” Gill said.<\/p>\n