‘We finally got it off our back.’ Gulfport breaks playoff jinx vs. George County.
For the first time since 2010, the Gulfport football team will be playing in the second round of the Class 6A playoffs.
Gulfport edged George County 20-19 on Friday to give the Admirals their first postseason win since they beat Natchez 38-27 on Nov. 12, 2010 — when Mike Justice was still walking the sideline at Milner Stadium as head coach.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our guys,” Gulfport coach John Archie said. “Nine years is too long. We finally got it off our back.”
In the second round, Gulfport (10-2) will play host to the same Oak Grove team that beat the Admirals 37-13 at Milner Stadium on Sept. 6. Oak Grove (9-3) advanced Friday night with a 42-14 victory over Ocean Springs.
For a brief moment late in Friday night’s game, it appeared as if the jinx would come back into play for the Admirals.
Gulfport senior defensive end Davion Carter hit George County quarterback M.J. Daniels to force a fumble on fourth down to end what appeared to be the Rebels’ final chance less than 3 minutes left. However, Gulfport gave the ball back to the Rebels when running back Travione Smith lost the handle on the ball on a carry up the middle.
George County got the ball back at its own 20 with just over 2 minutes on the clock, but the Rebels couldn’t take advantage of their second chance as Daniels threw four straight incompletions to allow Gulfport to take a knee to close out the game.
“It’s the best feeling ever just to know we can keep moving forward,” Gulfport senior receiver Tommie Johnson said with a broad grin. “We deserve this. Ain’t nothing else to say. We deserve this.”
After giving up 404 yards on the ground to Biloxi the week prior, the Gulfport defense proved to be up to the task against George County, holding the Rebels to a single touchdown in the second half.
“It was just staying focused in practice, keeping everything together and making sure we do our assignments,” Carter said. “We just had to do our job, basically.
The difference in the game proved to be the aspect of special teams that’s often taken for granted — extra points. George County had two failed point afters and Gulfport had one.
The most important failed extra point for George County was a bad snap on an attempt that would have tied the game at 20-20 with 6:55 remaining. It was set up by a 4-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Trent Howell.
“In a one point game, it’s the little things that matter,” George County coach Matt Caldwell said. “We didn’t execute twice in a special teams situation. We executed all year. We didn’t have those miscues, but we had them tonight. In a playoff game, we can’t afford to have them.”
Gulfport again relied on the passing game on offense with senior quarterback Cade Crosby connecting on 18 of 27 passes for 232 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
Crosby’s lone TD pass of the second half was a connection with senior receiver Durron Myers, who broke free in the George County secondary from 46 yards out. The extra point was no good, but Gulfport led 20-13 with 11:13 remaining.
Crosby’s favorite target was again Johnson, who pulled in 11 passes for 143 yards and one touchdown.
“Cade and I didn’t have a good connection early on,” Johnson said. “But as the season went on, our connection has gotten stronger.”
Johnson reached the 50-catch mark Friday night and increased his yardage to 843 yards and nine touchdowns.
“We try to spread the ball around, but Cade will go with the hot hand,” Archie said. “I guess Tommie had the hot one.”
The George County season came to a close with a record of 7-5.
“Gulfport has a good team,” Caldwell said. “They played as hard as they possibly could play. I’m proud of our guys. Our seniors went 2-10 two years ago and 4-8 last year and made the playoffs in the toughest region in the state. This is not going to put a damper on our season. We wanted to win and play next week, but I’m really proud of our guys.”
George County will have a chance to build next year’s offense around Daniels, a junior, and sophomore running back Trent Howell, who ran 15 times for 101 yards and a touchdown. Daniels, who had an interception on defense, completed 11 of 22 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown.
As for Gulfport, they’ll look to reach South State for the first time since 1999 with a win over Oak Grove next week.
“I love it,” Carter said of ending Gulfport’s seven-game losing streak in the playoffs. “I’m part of something bigger than myself. It’s a great feeling to be an Admiral, especially a 2020 Admiral. I love it.”
This story was originally published November 15, 2019 at 11:12 PM.
