Mississippi Gulf Coast Claims Seventh Straight MACCC South Title
For the seventh consecutive year, No. 8 Mississippi Gulf Coast claimed the MACCC South championship with a decisive 31-10 victory over No. 12 Hinds on Thursday in a must-win matchup.
The Bulldogs, now 8-1 overall and 5-1 in the South Division, will travel to Scooba next week to face No. 15 East Mississippi in an MACCC semifinal. The date and time for the contest will be announced Friday. Copiah-Lincoln, which also finished 8-1 and 5-1 in the South, will host Northwest Mississippi in the other semifinal.
Gulf Coast coach Jack Wright praised his team’s depth and recruiting efforts, saying, “I’m really proud that we’ve been able to really recruit the players to do that. That’s what college football is about — recruiting. We’ve had a lot of really good players over the last seven years. This is a fantastic group to work with.”
Hinds, which ends its season at 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the South, kept the game close until the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs’ defense made two key plays that prevented the Eagles from closing the gap. Late in the first half, Hinds faced a fourth-and-goal at the Gulf Coast 1-yard line. A running attempt by star quarterback Jaylon Ruffin was stopped by Kaleb Arterberry and Jabari McWilliams, preserving a 17-7 lead heading into halftime.
“In close games, there are usually big moments right before halftime and coming out of halftime,” Wright said. “That was a massive play. They’re going to make it a one-score game going into halftime, which is where they want to be. Already in my mind, I was thinking it was a one-score game and how we were going to approach it at halftime. But the Regulators came up big, and we go in up two scores. That’s a massive play.”
Linebacker Taurean Davis and cornerback Elijah Owens led the Bulldogs with nine tackles each, while Tyler Bailey and Keiyhaun Wilks contributed crucial sacks. A key turnover came with 10 minutes remaining in a 17-10 game when Willie Breland forced a fumble that Tristan Anderson recovered at the Hinds 8-yard line. Four plays later, Alan Woods scored from one yard out for his second touchdown of the night.
The Bulldogs extended their lead shortly after when Tyler Henderson broke free for a 62-yard touchdown run. Henderson finished with 128 receiving yards on four catches, and Royale Shelvy scored on a 33-yard reception in the opening drive. Quarterback Landon Varnes completed 14-of-23 passes for 273 yards and two scores. The Bulldogs also rushed for 141 yards, with Elijah Jones-Crosby contributing 97 yards on 17 carries.
“We’re used to playing on the turf; we’re used to playing in hot weather,” Wright said. “We didn’t have that tonight, so we felt like we could run the ball on them. We went in at halftime, saw where we were running the football and said, ‘Hey, let’s keep doing it.’”
Mississippi Gulf Coast will now prepare for a rematch against East Mississippi, whom they defeated 41-21 earlier in the season. Wright emphasized the competitiveness of the South Division, noting, “In the South, every game’s a playoff game. The crazy thing is, we have a really good team, and we were going into this game 7-1 and still fighting for our lives to try to get in. That’s a credit to this conference. The level of competition is only getting better. The talent level is high on all these teams. It’s just a battle week in and week out. It’ll be the same next week.”
For more information on MGCCC’s 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and Facebook, or visit mgcccbulldogs.com.
