Coast powers collide, with Ocean Springs and its sophomore QB winning shootout
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Ocean Springs defeated Picayune 56-42 behind four TDs from QB Chalmers Berglind.
- Greyhounds executed two successful onside kicks to shift momentum before halftime.
- Ocean Springs improved to 4-0 after scoring in bunches with five different players.
Chalmers Berglind rarely missed and never panicked. And the Greyhounds never stopped running.
Ocean Springs (4-0) won a track meet at Picayune (3-1) Friday, 56-42, aided by the play of its sophomore quarterback. Berglind threw a career-best four touchdowns while leading an offense that saw five different players reach the end zone.
The Greyhounds’ 56 points was the most they’ve scored in the 25-game series and the most a visitor from the Mississippi Coast has scored in Picayune since D’Iberville’s 56-35 win in 2015.
“When you have that many playmakers on offense, you need a guy that can get it to all of them,” Ocean Springs coach Jake Bramlett said of Berglind. “He did a great job of it tonight.”
Picayune went score-for-score with the Greyhounds until late in the first half. With the game tied at 28, Lanny Waltman scored one of his two rushing touchdowns with 41 seconds remaining until halftime. Then Ocean Springs stole a possession with its second successful onside kick of the half.
The Greyhounds went 49 yards in 35 seconds with Berglind capping the drive by finding Ian Michael Harlan from six yards out.
Picayune had a chance to cut the game back to one score on the opening drive of the second half, but fumbled one yard short of the goal line. On the next play, Berglind found Sharroid Whitehead down the sideline for what would be a 99-yard back-breaking touchdown.
“(Berglind) is getting the ball to all the playmakers,” Bramlett said. “Making sure those guys can impact the game in another way other than blocking.”
Solomon Baggett scored the Greyhounds’ first and last touchdown of the night. In between, Berglind produced two of his touchdown passes to a familiar target, his older brother Hayden.
The senior tight end turned a crossing route on third and long into a 53-yard score in the first quarter and caught a 15-yard touchdown over the middle in the second.
“It’s awesome,” Hayden said about catching passes from Chalmers. And Chalmers agrees. The younger Berglind is up to nine touchdown passes this year and four of them have gone to Hayden.
The Greyhounds will head into region play with a spotless record, a year after reaching the district slate at 1-4. Ocean Springs is 11-1 since then.
“They’re learning how to win early,” Bramlett said. “They’re learning how to win early and it not be a mid-year thing. We spent a lot of time in the offseason talking about situational football, learning it, and then going out and trying to operate it.”
Picayune got three rushing touchdowns out of its next-in-line running back Xavier Dennis. Colt Robinson, the younger brother of former Maroon Tide starting quarterback Brady Robertson, threw a touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter.
Picayune still has a date with Ty Keys and the Poplarville Hornets and then a week off before it opens district at Pascagoula on Oct. 10.
Ocean Springs returns home to face Biloxi in its region opener next week.
