Sports - High School

Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

SMOOTH SAILING

Chambers, special teams lead Gulfport past Biloxi

BILOXI — After the thunderous bursts of an impressive pyrotechnics display Friday, Gulfport put on its own show in the annual Biloxi-Gulfport rivalry.

Before a television audience in the “Y’all vs. Us’’ Cellular South series and an estimated 6,000 fans in Biloxi Stadium, tailback Shadale Chambers romped for 189 yards and two touchdowns as Gulfport mauled Biloxi 35-0.

Sandwiched between Chambers’ two touchdown runs were a couple of special-teams touchdowns and a Nick Burks burst up the middle for another score.

Gulfport finished the season at 6-5 while Biloxi fell to 3-8, losing its last seven ballgames.

Chambers set the tone on the fourth play from scrimmage, breaking over the left side on a 74-yard TD sprint.

“I was looking at the hole and I said we got to have this,’’ Chambers said. “We’ve got to have this. This is a big rivalry. I wanted to prove to the fans we could do this and have a winning season

“I had to run the ball hard. Sometimes plays weren’t there but I kept banging it up in there. I’ve got to give it to my O-line and my receivers. I’m going to miss my senior linemen.’’

Biloxi’s first special-teams breakdown came when the ball was snapped over punter Greg Marble’s head. In a wild scramble in the end zone, Chris Young fell on the ball for the touchdown. Alan Famiglio then hit the second of five extra points with 2:51 left in the first quarter.

Gulfport then drove 69 yards for its third TD, with Burks going 5 yards for the score.

Then came the second special teams breakdown when Lamar Smith blocked Marble’s punt, then recovered it in the back of the end zone for a 28-0 lead with 7:10 left in the first half.

“Them scoring two off punts — the one snapped over our punter’s head and the one that was blocked — took us out of our game plan,’’ Biloxi coach Steve Jones said. “Errors have been the story of the season, errors at critical times.

“I’m proud of how the kids played the whole year, they played hard.’’

Gulfport won the game without completing a pass, rushing for 279 yards. Actually Derrick Lattimore completed a pass but it was wiped out by a holding penalty.

“We lined up and whipped them, that’s the kind of program we’ve got,’’ Gulfport coach Mike Justice said. “Derrick had a little bit of a bad knee, We didn’t want to run him and didn’t have to. We will learn to run the football and throw when we are ready to throw.

“Our seniors turned this into a 6-5 season.”