Improving MS Coast program aiming to finally get over the hump during ‘trophy season’
Marc High’s Gautier Gators have emerged as one of the Mississippi Coast’s most consistent contenders in recent years.
The seventh-year head coach has guided the program to four straight winning seasons for the first time since the first four years of the school’s existence (1997 to 2000) and to three straight playoff appearances for the first time since an eight-year run from 2002 to 2009.
He’s the only coach in Gautier’s history to reach the semifinal round of the playoffs and he’s done so twice. But one particular milestone has proved elusive: a district championship.
“Coach has been calling this trophy season,” edge rusher Brayden Jackson told the Sun Herald. “We’re really big on winning it all this year and not giving up on ourselves.”
Gautier is 5-1 and 1-0 in district, and a major reason for the hot start is Jackson’s assertion of the team’s ability to play through the final whistle.
Three of the Gators’ five victories have been in one-score games and two of those, against Harrison Central and Pascagoula, were overtime wins.
“A lot of it is your playmakers making plays at the end of the game,” High said. “And we’ve been in several of those games in the past couple of years and I think that helps, too.”
On top of the experience of playing in close games, the Gators are coming with extra motivation each week, thanks to bitter endings.
Gautier has fallen one game short of the school’s first region championship since 2008 in each of the last two seasons and both times on the final week. First it was an overtime loss to Picayune in 2022, and then a 48-30 loss to Laurel last season.
On both occasions the Gators had their season ended via rematches with the Maroon Tide and Golden Tornadoes in the South State title game.
“It’s definitely motivating,” linebacker Fred Nicholson said. “To keep getting that close and not getting there, it’s motivated not just me but everybody around the team and pushed us to get to that next step.”
Defense playing the X-factor
High acknowledges his program his offense-led. The quarterback torch was passed on from the record-setting Kaden Irving to his younger cousin Trey Irving last year and the athletic senior is now enjoying a breakout campaign that seemed destined to arrive.
Irving is averaging three touchdowns per game with six passing scores and 12 more on the ground. He’s thrown for at least 200 yards in four straight games and has eclipsed 100 rushing yards in each of those four contest,s with 11 rushing scores in that span.
The Gators are averaging 35.5 points per game and have helped their own defense prepare for the athletic offenses on the Gautier schedule.
“Our offense is really good, we’re an offensive school,” Jackson said. “We play against them every day, one of the best offenses in the state. So if we play against them every day, of course we’re just naturally going to be better.”
Though the team has been locked in a few shootouts, Gautier’s defense has been tipping the scales in its favor through the creation of havoc.
The Gators have 11 takeaways in six games, have forced 11 total fumbles and made 21 tackles in the backfield.
At the center of the mayhem are Nicholson and Jackson. Nicholson is High’s defensive, high-energy leader in the middle of the unit who is currently third on the Coast in tackles with 74 and the only player in the entire state with at least 70 stops and three interceptions.
Nicholson — who will graduate in May with a diploma and an associates degree — has also forced three fumbles, blocked a field goal and taken an interception back for a touchdown. Nicholson also has an offer from Southern Miss as a long snapper.
“Everybody is looking up to me,” Nicholson said of being the leader. “When I was that freshman, I was looking up to our senior linebacker there. I see it as, I’m not just going to affect this place now, but I’m going to affect it in the years coming. I’m just trying to leave this place better than I found it.”
Jackson has been a role model as well, and leads through his will to help the team win at any cost. The senior is a natural defensive lineman, but moved to left tackle last season in order to get on the field and add depth to the offensive line.
He ended up being a Mississippi Association of Coaches All-State player at the position before slimming down and transitioning back to the defensive side of the line of scrimmage.
“The kid plays hard and he had a really great off season,” High said. “He made the state championships (in powerlifting). He’s starting to garner a lot of interest right now.”
Jackson has been a menace for opposing offenses to deal with. He’s got 10 quarterback hurries and three sacks to go along with five tackles for loss and five forced fumbles.
In Gautier’s district-opening win over Vancleave, Jackson brought down the quarterback twice and forced a pair of fumbles.
According to him, spending a year protecting what he now seeks to destroy helped him develop even further.
“I understand offensive linemen, now,” Jackson said. “I think that’s why I’m doing so great right now — because I understand what they’re doing.”
Gautier still has four region games on its schedule and will need Jackson and Nicholson’s defense to maintain its impact. That starts with an athletic Wayne County team on Friday and ends with a pair of monumental games against Stone’s stout defense and a pesky Laurel squad trying to defend its title.
The Gators feel they have the potential to be playing football in December, but know they have to focus on one Friday at a time to attain their goals.
“I think we’re front-runners for (state),” Nicholson said. “But we’ve got to take it one week at a time.”
