LYMAN — The last time Ocean Springs lost a region football game was almost three years ago in a 35-28 win by Harrison Central to end the 2020 regular season.
It took the Greyhounds a little over a minute in the second quarter Friday night to make sure that the Red Rebels wouldn’t accomplish that feat again and end history in the making for OSHS.
Ocean Springs captured its school record 16th consecutive league win, with a 49-13 victory over HCHS here at Earl Phillips Stadium in Region 4-7A action. The win was the sixth straight for OSHS under first-year head coach Jake Bramlett, as the Greyhounds move to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in league play while the Red Rebels drop to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the loop.
Ocean Springs scored 28 points in the second stanza to break open a close contest and take command, with three of those four touchdowns coming within a one-minute and 10-second span.
Leading 7-6 entering the period, OSHSquarterback Will Berglind hit Nolan Wells on a 14-yard scoring strike at the 9:04 mark to make it 14-6. That score was a harbinger of things to come, however.
On the second play of the ensuing HCHS possession, Ocean Springs senior cornerback Christian Bingham brushed past a Red Rebel receiver and picked off a Tri Gaughf pass and set sail down the home team sidelines with a 36-yard pick six to extend the lead to 21-6.
Then, just 16 seconds later, the other Greyhound senior cornerback Kristian Dillard pulled off the same feat as he pulled in a tipped Gaughf pass and wound his way through most of the Red Rebel offense for a 47-yard pick six and suddenly 70 seconds later it was 28-6.
The teams swapped scores for the remainder of the first half, with HCHS cutting the deficit to 28-13 on a 4-yard touchdown toss from Gaughf to Jordan Anderson at the 4:23 mark.
With the clock ticking away just before halftime, OSHS tailback Will Smith took a handoff up the middle and exploded on a 90-yard scamper to the Red Rebel four, and then Berglind hit Isiah Sinclair on a 4-yard scoring strike to make it 35-13 at intermission.
Any hopes by the home team of a big second-half comeback were thwarted by OSHS midway through the third frame, when Berglind kept on a 9-yard draw for a score to extend the lead to 42-13.
Minutes later, Berglind his Sinclair on a 19-yard touchdown toss to make it 49-13 and invoke the running clock clause.
The play was set up by a Trace Carter fumble recovery that he returned from inside the HCHS 10-yard line to just past mid-field.
The teams traded scores in the first quarter. Harrison Central’s Tyree Barnett took the opening kickoff back for a 94-yard touchdown to kick off the game. The point after failed.
Ocean Springs countered on its first possession with a 1-yard scoring plunge by Asher Faesar. The extra point by Peyton Williams was his first of five in the first half and seven overall.
It marked the third time in seven OHS games this season that both Dillard and Bingham registered interceptions in the same contest. Ocean Springs hosts Biloxi in region play next week, while Harrison Central does the same with D’Iberville.
