MGCCC football rolls over Southwest after long layoff

Mississippi Gulf Coast shrugged off a 22-day layoff Friday and blasted Southwest 40-3 at Hurst Stadium.

The Bulldogs piled up nearly 500 total yards and held the Bears to 72.

“It was surprising,” Gulf Coast coach Jack Wright said. “Our biggest fear as coaches coming back after a long break, a long hiatus, is not being able to execute at a high level. We were sloppy sometimes, but we executed better than I thought we would.”

The Bulldogs improved to 4-0 and set up a MACCC South championship showdown next Thursday against Jones (3-1). Kickoff in Perkinston is at 7 p.m.

The winner of that game will host the North champion on Dec. 5. If Northwest beats Mississippi Delta next week, the Rangers will be the North representative. If they are unable to play, Northeast Mississippi would be the North champs.

Gulf Coast has won 20 straight games dating back to 2018. It’s the second-longest win streak in school history. The Bulldogs won 22 straight from 1970-72.

The last time Gulf Coast played on a Friday was back in 1980. The Bulldogs are now 51-34-8 on that day of the week. (A 1930 game on a Friday against Jones County was ruled out of the records for both teams.).

Gulf Coast has beaten Southwest 14 straight times dating back to 2007.

Jalen Bracey caught six for 121 yards and a 34-yard touchdown, and Chris Mathis had five for 84 yards and a score. But the breakout star of the game was Travis Isaac (So., Vanguard/Ocala, Fla.), who caught a career-high 10 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown.

“I’m very proud of Travis,” Wright said. “He comes to work every single day. He’s a hard-working young man. He hasn’t always shown up on the stat sheet, but he’s played really well these two years. I’m really proud that he showed up and showed out. I thought Philip Short played really well.”

Short, a freshman quarterback from Madison-Ridgeland Academy completed 22-of-27 passes for 318 yards and three scores. He and DeCarlos Nicholson (Fr., Petal/Petal) combined to complete 28-of-37 passes for 356 yards, as the Bulldogs piled up 493 yards total offense.

Q.J. Skipper had two rushing touchdowns, and Micah McGowan ran 13 times for 100 yards with one score.

The MGCCC defense was dominant when it was on the field, holding Southwest to 83 yards in the air, and minus-11 yards on the ground. Wright pointed out dominant games by linebacker Navonteque Strong and defensive lineman Brian Merritt.

Defensive lineman Jace McCoy had a long fumble return that came up just short of a touchdown. He said played high school games on the same field he excelled on Friday.

“It feels really good,” he said. “Growing up, all I ever want to do was win. Now we’re on a winning streak, and it feels really good to get the dub here on my home field.”

The Bears fumbled the ball 10 times, losing four.

“I think the front three played really well,” Wright said. “They didn’t get blocked and were in the backfield a lot. They hit a play here or there, but there was no drive that was really threatening, and there was nothing Southwest did that made us have to make any big adjustment.”