‘A big momentum change.’ Gulfport comes alive in 2nd half to top a stubborn PRC squad

With the game tied at 14 midway through the third quarter, the Gulfport offense came to life to put up 28 unanswered points for the Admirals’ first win of the season Friday night, 42-14 over Pearl River Central at Milner Stadium.

Gulfport (1-2) suffered losses to a pair of South Mississippi powerhouses, Oak Grove and Picayune, to start the season.

Gulfport coach John Archie hopes Friday night’s result is a sign of what’s to come.

“We had two tough games on the road,” Archie said. “We were kind of waiting to get home. Feels like we did some real good things tonight. The defense gave up fourteen points, and we made a few errors there in the third quarter, but we kind of fixed it and got it right in the fourth quarter.”

The Blue Devils (2-1) tied the game 14-14 on their opening drive of the second half, one that chiseled off just over seven minutes from the third quarter clock.

But the Admirals’ offense, which hasn’t had a problem scoring points through its first two defeats, responded quickly. Zayshun Crawford moved the ball into Blue Devils territory on a 19-yard carry on a reverse, then quarterback Breck Leflore called his own number with a 29-yard keeper into the end zone to spark the scoring burst.

The Admirals’ defense stepped it up in the second half as well. After allowing a 75-yard, 14-play scoring drive to open the second half, the Admirals’ defense had had enough. They stopped the Blue Devils on fourth down on three consecutive possessions — the first time holding them to seven snaps and the next holding them to four snaps, giving the offense excellent field position at the Blue Devils’ 29.

“That was a big momentum change for us,” Archie said. “I told the guys before they went back out on defense that they wanted it more than us. Are we going to step up to the challenge? And we did.”

Leflore went to work again, this time connecting with Lushawn Griffin for a 29-yard scoring toss and a 28-14 lead.

The Admirals recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and on the first play from scrimmage, Emmanuel Bentley broke through the line of scrimmage for a 15-yard scoring run to put the Admirals up 35-14.

The defense kept the momentum going, again limiting the visitors to four snaps without a first down to put the ball back in the hands of the offense 26 yards away from the end zone.

William Jones sprinted through the middle of the line of scrimmage for the TD on the first snap, closing out the game’s scoring with just over 3 minutes remaining on the clock.

The Pearl River Central rushing attack never quite got rolling to level its used to, totaling 132 yards on 45 carries.

Leflore completed 19 off 22 passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for a score.

Tavaris Henshaw was Leflore’s top target, catching six passes for 58 yards and a TD.

Jones was Gulfport’s leading rusher, carrying four times for 45 yards.

Gulfport was scheduled to travel to St. Martin next week, but the Admirals announced before the season started that they will forfeit all games against Jackson County schools. The Gulfport School District believes the Jackson County School District has met the high standard it follows for COVID-19 protocols.

Pearl River Central hosts Pascagoula to start Region 4-5A competition next week.

This story was originally published September 18, 2020 at 11:52 PM.