OCEAN SPRINGS — Last week, on the road in Gulfport against old head coach Blake Pennock, Ocean Springs wrapped up its first-ever Region 4-7A championship.
Thursday night, the Greyhounds returned home to the friendly confines of Greyhound Stadium and notched not only their 19th consecutive region win but kept their homefield win streak alive at 15 in the regular season as well with a 41-0 thumping of old rival St. Martin.
Ocean Springs has now won three straight region crowns, including two in Class 6A before moving up a classification this year after expansion. The Greyhounds end the regular season at 9-1 and are on a nine-game win streak entering the playoffs. Ocean Springs reeled off nine straight wins to end the regular season after dropping a 15-14 decision on the road to Madison Central in the first game of the year.
The loss dropped the Yellow Jackets to 0-10 on the season, and St. Martin has now lost 17 straight games. It marks the first winless season on the gridiron for the Yellow Jackets in 13 years, since the 2010 season.
The Greyhounds jumped out to a 21-0 first-half lead and were never threatened. It marked the sixth straight win for OSHS over St. Martin in this annual affair.
“It was a great regular season, I’m so proud of the way these guys responded after we lost the opening game of the season.” Ocean Springs first-year OSHS head coach Jake Bramlett said.
William Berglind hooked up with Nolan Wells on a 14-yard scoring strike just over two minutes into the game to give the Greyhounds a lead they would never relinquish.
The Greyhounds then recovered a fumble at the SMHS 14 after a botched punt attempt, and Sharroid Whitehead scored on a 1-yard plunge just a minute later to make it 14-0.
Will Smith added a 1-yard scoring run of his own with 10 minutes to play before halftime, which was set up by an interception from Christian Bingham.
Smith added his second short scoring run to open the second half, this time from 3 yards out, and it was 28-0. That score was set up by an interception from Kristian Dilliard.
Greyhound defensive lineman Kenderek Weathers came up with a touchdown of his own when he returned an interception for a pick-6 of about 55 yards to make it 35-0 with 2:42 to play in the third frame.
Ocean Springs reserve running back Ayden Watson crashed in for a 1-yard touchdown to make it 41-0 with eight minutes remaining in the game.
