Hinds upsets No. 5 Gulf Coast

PHOTO BY TRACY DUNCAN/HINDS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

RAYMOND — No. 5 Mississippi Gulf Coast saw its 16-game MACCC South winning streak end in a wild game against Hinds, falling 42-37 at Joe Renfroe Stadium.

The Bulldogs saw a 28-point lead early in the second quarter disappear before regaining the lead in the fourth quarter, only to lose on a field goal with 14 seconds left.

"It was a strange, strange game," Gulf Coast coach Jack Wright said. "It was almost like things came too easy at first. And then their talent showed. They're a good football team. They've got a great quarterback who continued to make plays all night, and you've got to give them credit. For getting out of the hole they dug for themselves."

Gulf Coast took its first loss of the year to fall to 3-1 and are now .500 in the division. Hinds is 3-1, 1-0.

It was all Bulldogs in the first quarter, as the team scored 24 unanswered points. Cyrus Hartfield (Fr., Hattiesburg/Hattiesburg) opened the scoring with a 41-yard touchdown pass from Philip Short (So., Flowood/Madison-Ridgeland Academy), and Dylan Wasson added a 34-yard field goal.

Jalen Bracey (So., Jackson/Murrah) caught a 19-yard pass from Austin Davidson (So., Meridian/West Lauderdale), and Micah McGowan (So., Petal/Petal) scored a 7-yard touchdown run with 1:21 left in the opening quarter. That drive was set up by another punt block by Greg Fortenberry (Fr., Columbia/Columbia) which was returned by Jamarcus Jones (Fr., Union/Union).

Hinds got its first points on an early second-quarter field goal, before Gulf Coast put another touchdown on the board. Short hit K.T. Hicks (So., Petal/Petal) for a 65-yard touchdown play with 13 minutes left in the half.

The Bulldogs led 31-3 after scoring on their first five drives.

"Everything was working," Wright said. "We were getting some chunk runs. I really think it starts with that, and off the bat we had some passes hit. We hit a big wheel route to K.T. down the sideline. We hit him in stride, and we had receivers make plays."

Hinds started clawing their way back less than two minutes later, and the Bulldogs' lead was down to 31-23 by halftime.

The Eagles scored the first 13 points of the second half to charge in front before Wasson hit a 30-yarder in the final minute of the third quarter after Gulf Coast recovered a fumbled punt return.

He hit a 26-yard field goal with 6:12 to play that put the Bulldogs back in front.

"Special teams were rock solid," Wright said. "We blocked a punt, and recovered a fumbled punt, too. It really hard to point at just one thing that turned it other than exceptional quarterback play by Hinds."

Gulf Coast got the ball back with 4:28 to play with a chance to run out the clock, but the Bulldogs got only one first down. They had to punt the ball back, and quarterback BeSean McCray got the ball back with 1:10 to play.

He completed three passes, the final one to wrest the lead from the Bulldogs. McCray finished with an even 300 yards passing and two touchdowns.

Gulf Coast got a long kickoff return by Hicks to get across midfield, but a Hail Marry failed.

"Our kids are going to fight to the end," Wright said. "That's the thing we learned about them in the Northeast game and the Pearl River game. Our kids are gonna fight, and I knew they would. When things got dicey at the end, our kids continued to fight. We demand that of our guys, and we recruit guys who play that way."

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