No. 9 Bulldogs falls at No. 14 Northwest

SENATOBIA – A second long road trip against a tough team was too much for Mississippi Gulf Coast.

No. 14 Northwest defeated the No. 9 Bulldogs 26-10 at Bobby Franklin Field. The Rangers scored all 16 points in the second half, hitting a pair of big plays and stifling the Gulf Coast offense.

The Bulldogs (1-1) were outgained 405-150, with Northwest (2-0) picking up 23 first downs to Gulf Coast's 10. The Bulldogs averaged only 2.5 yards on first down.

Gulf Coast converted only 2 of 14 third downs, a down on which they faced an average of 9.9 yard to move the sticks.

"We made some mistakes that got us in second-and-long, third-and-long situations," Gulf Coast coach Chad Huff said. "What happens then is you gotta punt and they win the field position battle. I think we struggled all night with field position and putting the defense in bad situations."

Chris Robinson led Gulf Coast with 68 yard rushing on 16 carries. Quarterback A.J. Erdely was harried all night, sacked eight times while completing 9-of-21 passes for 78 yards and an interception.

"The defense played great tonight," Erdely said. "They gave us every opportunity in the game to score points. Offensively, we've got to score points and it starts with me. We've just got to start clicking."

Gulf Coast took advantage of a special teams mistake to open the scoring. Northwest punter Jim Speights kicked the ball off the back of one of his protectors, with Reggio Dean scooping the loose ball up and returning it eight yards to the Northwest 15.

Three plays later, Tevaris McCormick scored on a 4-yard run.

Northwest took the lead after Speights kicked a 27-yard field goal and Gardner Minshew threw his first of three TD passes, a 3-yarder to Romeel Cochran.

Gulf Coast put together a 52-yard, two-minute drive to get Joshua Rowland's fifth field goal of the year, a 36-yarder with three seconds left in the half.

Minshew connected with Marquisian Chapman on long touchdown throws of 45 and 47 yards in the third quarter, with Speights adding a 39-yard field goal with 5:42.

"Their guys made some plays," Huff said. "We had some opportunities; we didn't make the play when it came our way."

Minshew completed 14-of-31 passes for 242 yards, and Chapman had four catches for 130 yards. Northwest running back Justin Crawford had 29 rushes for 138 yards.

Gulf Coast plays its first home game of the year Sept. 10 against East Central. Kickoff at A.L. May Memorial Stadium is at 7 p.m.

It will mark the first South Division contest, meaning the path to the postseason is getting ready to begin.

"We're going to use that as motivation," said linebacker James Graves, who was credited with an unofficial eight tackles to tie Reggio Dean for the team high. "We've got to take of the South Division games and we'll be all right."