No. 14 Gulf Coast beats up East Central

PERKINSTON – Mississippi Gulf Coast didn't let a poor performance the previous week spoil a great home opener.

The No. 14 Bulldogs (2-1) pulled away from East Central to win 30-14 Thursday at A.L. May Memorial Stadium. The victory launched MACJC South Division play on the right foot.

"I'm real proud of the guys tonight," coach Chad Huff said. "We started out 1-0 in the South Division. That was our goal. We challenged the guys, it's all about your approach and how you come out ready to play."

Gulf Coast handed the Warriors their first loss of the year with a much more intense performance than in a loss at Northwest. Chris Robinson scored on two touchdown runs, and T'Rod Daniels broke a long 88-yard, third-quarter touchdown that helped break East Central's back.

"The line was on point and blocked all the assignments," said Daniels, who finished with 188 yards on seven rushes. "I just had to make one guy miss, and I got outside and it broke."

Running up the middle, he broke a tackle at the line and bounced to the right sideline. He outran several East Central defenders, then cut back at the Warriors' 30-yard line to evade one last tackler before sprinting to the end zone to make the score 24-7.

"I thought the guys did a tremendous job of executing, making the right calls," Huff said. "I thought the tailbacks ran with a lot of passion. Sometimes you've got to make plays.

"We call it BYOB: Be Your Own Blocker. We challenged the running backs this week to make plays, extend plays and get yards after contact."

Joshua Rowland added two fourth-quarter field goals and was a perfect 3-for-3 on the night. He's missed only one of nine attempts this season, converting Thursday from 27, 37 and 28 yards.

Rowland opened the scoring five minutes into the game, but East Central scored on its next possession. Jesse Hosket threw a screen to Kabion Ento near the left sideline, and 48 yards later, the Warriors led 7-3 with 6:36 left in the first quarter.

Robinson plunged in from 3 yards out less than two minutes later, then again from the 1-yard line 9:35 before halftime.

The Gulf Coast defense benefited from the offense's improved performance, getting more time on the sidelines than last week. Outside the long screen pass in the first quarter, it allowed only a late-game Hosket touchdown pass to Ento.

"WE played together as a defense," Gulf Coast defensive end Isaiah Buggs said. "We got on track from the first quarter to the last. We became coachable this week. Last week, we weren't coachable. We stepped it up and made big plays."

Perhaps the biggest plays came just before half, when a muffed Gulf Coast snap set up East Central deep in Bulldogs territory with 20 seconds left. The defense held firm, and a missed field goal turned disaster into a rallying point.

"Those guys bounced back this week," Huff said. "We gave up that big screen early in the first quarter, but outside of that they did an outstanding job, even after being put in a tough situation."

Gulf Coast returns to action next week on the road at No. 15 Hinds, which improved to 3-0 with a 35-7 shellacking of Pearl River.