By Stan Caldwell

PRCC Sports Information

 

PERKINSTON – Mississippi Gulf Coast scored touchdowns on all five of its possessions in the first half, and the Bulldogs cruised to a 41-10 victory over Pearl River Thursday in a South Division game at A.L. May Stadium.

The seventh-ranked Bulldogs won their fifth consecutive game to improve to 6-1 overall and 5-0 in the division, and clinched a berth in the MACJC playoffs. PRCC dropped to 2-5 and 1-4 and was officially eliminated from any playoff consideration.

“We didn’t execute like we could and, more than anything, we didn’t match their intensity,” said PRCC coach William Jones. “I think it was the short week, for us to play such an emotional game last week (in a 17-9 upset over Copiah-Lincoln).”

Gulf Coast rolled up 279 yards of offense in the first half, while the Wildcats were held to just 121. The Bulldogs only had three third-down plays the entire first half and converted two of them, and on the only one they didn’t make, they converted on the ensuing fourth down.

“They were getting us boxed in when they went to the edge,” said Wildcat safety Tavarius Moore.

“They were getting to the outside, and they were getting our linemen and linebackers pinched inside. Then they were gashing us up the middle. We tried to limit their first-down carries as much as we could, but we just couldn’t get it going like we wanted.”

The Bulldogs opened the scoring on a 4-yard pass from A.J. Erdely to Tevaris McCormick with 8:56 to play in the first quarter.

Chris Robinson scored the first of his three touchdowns on the next drive, on a 5-yard run with 3:47 to play in the opening period. Robinson added touchdown runs of 4 yards and 15 yards, and T’Rod Daniels capped the first-half scoring on a 6-yard run with 37 seconds left in the half.

Pearl River tried to get back in the game midway through the second quarter, driving 70 yards to the Bulldog 7-yard-line, but had to settle for Brennan O’Keefe’s 29-yard field goal.

Gulf Coast scored its only touchdown of the second half on the first play of the fourth quarter, when Danzel Allen picked off a Mack Lowrie pass and returned the interception 41 yards for a score.

The Wildcats added a touchdown on a 10-yard pass from Marshall Kranz to Anthony Jones.

Robinson finished with 60 yards on 12 carries for the Bulldogs, and Erdely was 19 of 28 for 162 yards. Three PRCC quarterbacks combined for a dismal 8 of 34 for just 83 yards,

“I thought (Erdely) was efficient,” Jones said. “They threw it and caught the ball when they had to, and running the ball, we didn’t fit like we wanted to. Maybe another day or two of practice might have helped us there.”

PRCC will have some time to rest up before next Saturday’s homecoming game against Northeast. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.