No. 6 Gulf Coast loses in state title game

SENATOBIA – Turnovers cost No. 6 Mississippi Gulf Coast dearly in the MACJC state championship game Saturday.

No. 1 Northwest scored touchdowns after two third-quarter quarterback sacks forced fumbles to seize control and win 34-24.

"Hat's off to Northwest. They made a few more plays and we came up on the sort end off the stick," Gulf Coast coach Chad Huff said. "You can't turn the ball over. We haven't turned the ball over that bad all year."

Northwest (10-1) clinched a berth in the Mississippi Bowl.

Gulf Coast (8-3) lost one first-half fumble, but the turnover bug bit hard after halftime. The Bulldogs fumbled the second-half kickoff, but the defense forced Northwest to turn the ball over on downs.

The ensuing Bulldogs possession ended with the first sack-strip-fumble. Northwest's Corey Brown got credit for each, with his touchdown making the score 21-10.

"You can't do that," Huff said. "You have a chance to come out and score and set the tempo in the second half. You turn the ball over. You just can't do that."

The teams exchanged punts until late in the quarter, when Erdely was sacked again with Tito Windham scooping the fumble and scoring. Gulf Coast trailed 27-10 after blocking the PAT.

Gulf Coast finished with four fumbles and lost all of them.

Erdely struck back, however, scrambling to throw a 62-yard touchdown pass Jonathan Nance on the last play of the quarter.

Northwest pushed their lead back to 17 after Gardner Minshew closed out the next drive by throwing an 18-yard TD pass to Justin Crawford, who also had a 50-yard first-half scamper for a touchdown.

Minshew completed 12 of 25 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns. Crawford had 13 rushes for 71 yards and another touchdown.

Nance added another touchdown from Erdely with 2:49 to play, but Gulf Coast couldn't recover an onside kick. A final Bulldogs drive, which included four straight completions for 78 yards, ended at the Northwest 2-yard line as the final horn blew.

"We just waited a little too late to get it going," Huff said. "In games like this, guys have to step up and make some plays and get momentum turned."

Gulf Coast only managed 66 yards rushing, but narrowly lost the total offense battle 347 yards to 312 yards.

Erdely had a 6-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and Joshua Rowland nailed a 39-yard field goal with 15 seconds in the half as the Bulldogs trailed 14-10.

Gulf Coast quarterback A.J. Erdely was sacked six times, but still managed to complete 19-of-29 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns. He limped off the field after one of the fourth-quarter sacks. Erdely returned on the next possession.

Northwest sacked Erdely eight times in the teams' first meeting, a 26-10 Rangers victory on Sept. 3

"He's a fighter, a winner. I told him I'd go to battle with him any day," Huff said. "He's been solid all year. He put a lot into it and came up a little short."

Gulf Coast was participating in its 15^th state title game.

"This football team has done a lot, accomplished a lot. We were South Division champs," Huff said. "It's been a good group and I've enjoyed coaching them."