Gulf Coast, Pearl River land 16 on MACJC All-State South teams
Gulf Coast and Pearl River landed a host of standouts on the MACJC All-State teams as well as the NJCAA Region XXIII teams, announced Monday morning.
Gulf Coast freshman cornerback Octavis Johnson earned a spot on the Region XXIII defensive team, with sophomore offensive lineman Brandon Hill and freshman kicker Joshua Rowland earning spots on the Region XXIII offensive team.
Rowland converted 16 of 19 field goals and was perfect on all 44 PATs. Johnson, originally a South Carolina signee, recorded 32 tackles and two interceptions this season.
Gulf Coast's representatives on the MACJC All-State South first team included Hill, Rowland, Johnson and freshman offensive lineman D'Marcus Hayes. Freshman defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs, freshman linebacker Reggio Dean, sophomore defensive back Marcus Betts, sophomore receiver Ishmel Morrow, freshman offensive lineman Kevin Haas and freshman kick returner T'Rod Daniels all represented Gulf Coast on the MACJC All-State South second teams.
Morrow led all MACJC receivers with 51 catches. Daniels averaged 15.1 yards per punt return and 21.8 yards per kick return.
"He was a weapon for us," Gulf Coast coach Chad Huff said in a release. "At any time, he was a step away from scoring for us and set up some scores this year because of his returns."
Buggs was a force, recording 59 tackles and eight TFLs. He also led Gulf Coast with four sacks.
"He was an impact player on that side of the football as a true freshman." Huff said. "I'm exciting about the things to come from his next year."
Hill originally signed with Alabama out of high school and recently verbally committed to UAB.
Dean was second on the team with 86 tackles and also recorded a tam-high 8.5 TFLs and two interceptions. Betts led Gulf Coast with four interceptions and recorded 36 tackles.
PRCC
Pearl River sophomore linebacker and defensive back Jarkeith Ruffin and Tarvarious Moore landed on the Region XXIII defensive team.
Pearl River was represented by Ruffin and Moore -- both as a defensive back and kick returner -- on the All-MACJC South first team, and freshman defensive lineman Keyshawn Simmons, freshman linebacker Kelton Brown and sophomore punter Cody Mikell on the second team.
Others
Other Coast standouts represented on the teams included former Biloxi kicker Grayson Pontius (East Mississippi) on the MACJC All-State North second team as a freshman and former Harrison Central defensive back Tito Windham (Northwest) as a second-team freshman.
Pontius made 6 of 11 field goals with a long of 43 this season and 58 of 62 extra points. He also averaged 39 yards per punt with a long of 52. Windham recorded 30 tackles with 10 passes defended, an interception and also returned a fumble for a touchdown in Saturday's MACJC title game.
The Sun Herald will update this report.
This story was originally published November 9, 2015 at 4:35 PM with the headline "Gulf Coast, Pearl River land 16 on MACJC All-State South teams ."