No. 7 Bulldogs bounce back with 27-20 win at Co-Lin

WESSON — No. 7 Mississippi Gulf Coast bounced back from early adversity and rebounded from its first loss of a season with a huge victory in the MACCC South race Thursday night.

The Bulldogs broke a first-place tie with Copiah-Lincoln, improving to 6-1, 4-1.

"Anytime you come off a tough loss, you're ready to just play again," Gulf Coast coach Jack Wright said. "You have to wait a week to do that and earn the right to do that with a good week of practice. We did that, and I really respect the way our kids handled that. They came in Sunday ready to go. We didn't talk about last week a lot, we just got ready for Co-Lin."

The Bulldogs moved ahead of Co-Lin (4-3, 3-2) and are at least temporarily a full game ahead of East Central (4-2, 2-1). The Warriors play Saturday in Ellisville against Jones and can move back within a half-game with a win.

The Wolves took advantage of an early fumble and got out to a 10-0 with 2:31 to play in the first quarter. The Bulldogs took all of 21 seconds to swing momentum across to the other sideline.

Landon Varnes (Fr., Brandon/Brandon) found JP Coulter (So., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs) behind the Co-Lin secondary for a 70-yard touchdown on the first play of the drive.

"It felt like they had a little bit more energy than us, the home team on ESPN," Wright said. "That's predictable, I think. We had a route drawn up with JP in the middle of the field, and it opened up just like we thought it might."

The Regulators got a three-and-out, and the offense got Gulf Coast in the lead with a 12-play, 78-yard drive punctuated by a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mason Beverly (Fr., Purvis/Purvis).

The Bulldogs padded the lead with a perfect two-minute drive. After taking over at their own 24 following a missed Co-Lin field goal, Gulf Coast marched down the field starting with a 20-yard run by Chandler Chapman (So., Bay St. Louis/St. Stanislaus). Coulter had a 23-yard reception, and later caught a 15-yard touchdown pass.

"The gameplan was a great gameplan by Coach Wright," he said. "They gave us exactly what we wanted on the touchdowns I had. It came out perfect."

The Bulldogs ran seven plays in 1:16 without taking any timeouts for a 20-10 lead at halftime.

Their final score came on a brisk three-minute drive in the fourth quarter. Tyler Henderson (Fr., Vicksburg/Vicksburg) caught a 38-yard pass to convert a third down, and Trey Hall (So., Vicksburg/Warren Central) finished it with a 28-yard screen pass for a 27-13 lead.

Co-Lin got a touchdown just before the two-minute timeout, but Gulf Coast recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.

Chapman ran 14 times for 90 yards, and Coulter had five catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns. Varnes completed 17-of-24 passes for 254 yards and no interceptions.

"He wants the ball in his hand," Wright said. "There at the end, he had some ideas about us trying to throw the ball running out the clock out, but he had a great night with four touchdowns. Just a spectacular night against what is statistically the best defense in the conference."

The Regulators played bend-but-don't-break defense, as the Bulldogs outgained the Wolves 400-340. Co-Lin was 6-of-15 on third-down conversions, with some key tackles for loss and penalties getting them behind the chains.

Javen Gibson (So., Church Point La./Church Point) had a pair of sacks.

"We were really focused this week," freshman linebacker Taurean Davis said. "Last week really humbled us, and it made us realize we're not unbeatable. It made us focus and remember we can still be beat."

Gulf Coast will have a long week of preparation ahead of an Oct. 31 Homecoming matchup against Coahoma. It will be the last non-division game of the season, with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m. For a complete list of Homecoming activities, go to https://mgccc.edu/homecoming.

For more information on MGCCC's 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.