Down goes No. 1: MGCCC beats Jones

PHOTO BY KEVAN LINDSEY/BUCKLEY NEWSPAPERS

ELLISVILLE — Backs against the wall near the end of a long season and repeatedly during the game, No. 13 Mississippi Gulf Coast outslugged No. 1 Jones 27-24 to beat the No. 1 team in the country on its home field. 

"It was a great football game," Gulf Coast coach Jack Wright said. "Everybody that was here got their money's worth. Jones made plays, we made plays on both sides of the football. Our defense was on the field all night and they never laid down. They've been in bad situations all year and they come through." 

Jones had more than an 11-minute advantage in possession time, but The Regulators forced three fumbles. Two of them provide short fields for one-play touchdown drives, and Austin Davidson (So., Meridian/West Lauderdale) hit Jalen Bracey (So., Jackson/Murrah) for two long touchdown passes.

Gulf Coast (6-2, 4-1 MACCC South) moves into a three-way tie for first in the division with Jones (7-1, 4-1) and Hinds (6-2, 4-1). The Bulldogs need to beat Southwest a week from Saturday and get some help to qualify for the playoffs. MGCCC would lose a three-team tiebreaker, so it needs Jones to lose to Copiah-Lincoln or Hinds to lose to Pearl River.

It took nearly the whole first quarter for somebody to get on the scoreboard, but Joseph Perryman (Fr., Madison/Madison Central) recovered a bad snap from center at the 11-yard line. Davidson hit Rico Dorsey (Fr., Hattiesburg/Presbyterian Christian) on the next snap for a 7-0 lead.

It was 13-0 after Davidson found Bracey for a 64-yard bomb midway through the second quarter.

"It was a double-move, and we were just looking for Jalen to win," Davidson said. "He did."

Jones marched back down the field on its next possession but also missed its extra point but added a field goal with six seconds left to make it 13-9. The Bobcats surged ahead on the first possession of the second dhal, marching 72 yards on 11 plays for a 16-13 lead.

Jones' next possession ended in its second big turnover.

"I was speed rushing and I saw it coming," defensive lineman Jace McCoy said. "(C.J. Williams) got the sack and knocked it loose. I picked it up and said let's go."

Jace McCoy (So., Summit/North Pike) returned it 11 yards to the Jones 4-yard line, and Micah McGowan (So., Petal/Petal) punched it in on the next play for a 20-16 lead.

The seesaw quickly went the other way, with Jones driving 75 yards in 3:30 for a 23-20 lead on the next-to-last-play of the third quarter. 

Davidson and Bracey hooked up again on another double-move on the very next drive, this time for 51 yards. Davidson completed 16 of 28 passes for 236 yards and had two interceptions in the Jones endzone. Bracey, who Wright called the best receiver in junior college, caught seven passes for 160 yards.

"Austin is a gritty football player," Wright said. "He extended some drives with his feet. The two big passing plays really are the difference in the game. He hit Bracey a couple of times, and that's really what did it for us."

Davidson also ran for 42 yards and didn't take a sack.

Gulf Coast's defense forced another turnover later in the quarter that Coldan Carter (Fr., Petal/Petal) scooped up for an apparent touchdown. An official blew his whistle inadvertently, nullifying the touchdown.

Jones got two more bites at the apple, but Ishmael Naylor (Fr., DeKalb/Kemper County) sacked Quaterius Hawkins to end a drive at the Gulf Coast 34. And Gulf Coast survived more strange officiating that stopped the clock on a last-ditch drive, knocking down a Hail Mary as time expired.

La'Damian Webb, the nation's leading rusher, picked up 217 yards, but a normally-efficient Hawkins was an ineffective 8-for-26 for 148 yards. 

"We beat the No. 1 team at their place," Wright said. "It's a great moment for our program. It's been a hard year, a long year. We've had to battle through a lot of adversity. Coming here and doing this really speaks volumes to the character and the effort of our players. That cannot be overstated."

For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.