Coming off a 20-3 defeat against the Ocean Springs Greyhounds for the Region 4-7A title last week, the Gulfport Admirals (7-3 overall, 4-1 in the region) proved to remain the best Southern Six team in the county with a 49-21 win over the Harrison Central Red Rebels on Thursday night at Milner Stadium.
The Admirals accounted for 302 rushing yards and 463 total yards on Senior Night.
With the exception of their 21-7 win over Biloxi on Oct. 10, the Admirals have scored 35 points or more in their six other victories.
Gulfport finished the regular season as the runner-up in the region and will host the Petal Panthers in a Class 7A playoff opener next week. Harrison Central was fifth in the region, where the top four teams are in the playoffs.
The scoring summary
The Admirals jumped out during the opening possession with quarterback Dane Sullivan rushing for a 10-yard touchdown to put Gulfport ahead 7-0.
After a punt by Harrison Central (2-8, 1-4), Gulfport appeared on its way for a quick game, but Sullivan threw an interception to Red Rebels defensive back Dylan Perryman, who returned it for a 43-yard touchdown.
After the extra point, the game was tied 7-7 with 3:22 left in the first quarter.
As Gulfport High has all year, the Admirals needed someone to step up. Running back Cooper Crosby, behind solid blocking from the offensive line, made several long escapes down the sideline before scraping through a 24-yard touchdown with 10 seconds left in the quarter. The score put Gulfport ahead 14-7.
Despite its 7-40 record all-time against Gulfport, Harrison Central wasn’t going away as Red Rebels running back Zahkarri Mcglothin exploded on the first play of the second quarter for an 89-yard score to tie the game at 14.
Gulfport countered with two touchdowns before the Red Rebels blinked on a 15-yard dive and Sullivan found routine target Krisjeohn Burks for a 16-yard touchdown pass with only five seconds left in the first half to give the Admirals a 28-14 lead.
Even with a turnover on a lateral in the third quarter by Gulfport, which led to a 15-yard fumble return for a touchdown, the Admirals outscored the Red Rebels 21-7 for a 49-21 lead in the second half and had backups playing in the fourth quarter.
What the coach said
“Felt like defensively, we’ve played really well, and I was really proud of our guys and how they’ve continued to fight throughout the game every week,” said Gulfport coach Blake Pennock. “From our standpoint, the Rebels did a great job mixing up things on defense and I think we did a good job of finding out their style during the game.”
The numbers never lie
During the second quarter, Crosby eclipsed 1,000 yards on the ground for the season and finished the game with 13 carries for 113 yards and two touchdowns.
Sullivan threw for 161 yards on 10-of-16 attempts and two touchdowns and he ran for 63 yards and two touchdowns.
Despite allowing the Red Rebels 206 yards on the ground, Gulfport finished with five tackles for loss, two sacks and two interceptions (Tre’Von Deans and Jaqwon Smith) and forced two turnovers on downs.
The Admirals held the Red Rebels to 2-of-13 conversions on third down and none on fourth.
Next up
The Admirals will face the Region 3-7A No. 3 seed, the Petal Panthers, at Milner Stadium on Nov. 15 in the first round of the playoffs.
“It’s the same as it is every year,” Pennock said. “Brandon and Oak Grove are two elite football teams and the Bulldogs have separated themselves there. Petal is a similar team to Pearl, who we played last year that is very physical and dominant defensively. We have to take care of the ball, play good defense and special teams.”
Gulfport last faced Petal on Aug. 24, 2018, beating the Panthers 33-28 in Week 2 of the season before the Admirals lost a rematch 34-0 in the first round of the 2018 playoffs.
