No. 8 Bulldogs battle back to beat ECCC

DECATUR — Facing a second-half deficit for the second straight week, No. 8 Mississippi Gulf Coast showed its mettle again Thursday and this time finished the comeback. The Bulldogs rallied from 10 down in the third quarter to win 28-24 over East Central.

Trey Hall (Fr., Vicksburg/Warren Central) ran for 142 yards and two touchdowns, and backfield mate Chandler Chapman (Fr., Bay St. Louis/St. Stanislaus) added 92 yards and two scores of his own.

The Regulators kept the Bulldogs in the game however with some an important red-zone stop when they were down in the third quarter and slammed the door in the final two minutes.

"The main thing that stands out is defensive resilience," Gulf Coast coach Jack Wright said. "We put our defense in some very poor situations. We gave them some very short fields. We had a huge mistake on special teams that gave them a big score and we threw an interception. Our defense really came through tonight."

The Bulldogs (6-1, 3-1 MACCC South) outrushed East Central 249-177, and the Regulators battled through adversity brought on by turnovers on offense and special teams.

Gulf Coast has won seven straight in the series and 20 out of the last 21. This year, however, was much tougher than last year's 35-0 blitz by the Bulldogs.

The Warriors (3-4, 1-3) had topped previously unbeaten Northeast Mississippi last week and put a big scare into Gulf Coast. They erased a 14-10 halftime deficit by marching the second-half kickoff 75 yards on 11 plays.

Gulf Coast turned the ball over on the next drive with an interception, but the Regulators stiffened. East Central started the drive at the Bulldogs 15, but three plays later were at the 29 and wound up missing a 42-yard field goal. Davin Anderson (So., Greenwood/Greenwood) had a third-down pressure which resulted in intentional grounding and a 17-yard loss.

"You've got to know the down-and-distance situation," linebacker Wyatt Wright said. "I feel like we knew we had to do, and we just executed."

Wright (So., Bridgeville, Del./Woodbridge) and Keshawn Thomas (Fr., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs) led the team with eight total tackles. Gibson had two sacks, with Kazarius Bowie (So., Jackson/Brandon) picking up another.

The Bulldogs later made a bad decision on a punt, gifting ECCC the ball at the 13, and the Warriors made it 24-14 with 3:53 left in the third.

Hall and quarterback Eli Anderson (So., Philadelphia/Neshoba Central) took turns running the ball for the Bulldogs on the ensuing drive. They went 66 yards in 10 plays, with Hall punching it in from 4 yards just before the end of the quarter.

"I saw a lot of holes," Hall said. "The O-line started to feel out their guys, and they started opening up holes for me to run. It took a little while to get going, but when they did, we just had to hit it."

The defense forced a three-and-out, setting the stage for a 69-yard game-winning drive. Chandler Chapman (Fr., Bay St. Louis/St. Stanislaus) scored from 1 yard out on the 12^th play for a 28-24 lead with 8:59 left.

East Central drove to the Gulf Coast 28-yard line, but its drive petered out. Gulf Coast ran some clock and Gabriel Showalter (So., St. Martin/St. Martin) was able to force a fair catch at the ECCC 5.

Four incomplete passes later, the Bulldogs got the ball back and knelt out the clock.

Chapman had a first-quarter touchdown run from 4 yards to even out East Central's opening drive, and Hall's 10-yard score put the Bulldogs up 14-10 at halftime.

Jay Dupree (So., Philadelphia, Miss./Neshoba Central) had three catches for 54 yards to lead the Bulldogs. Anderson was 10-of-19, but for only 94 yards.

Gulf Coast celebrates homecoming on Oct. 28 when Hinds visits A.L. May Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. The Clem Dellenger Memorial Golf Tournament set for Oct. 27, with a full day of activities at Perk on Saturday. Go to http://mgccc.edu/homecoming for more details.

For more information on MGCCC's 11 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.