Gulf Coast to battle PRCC for South lead

PERKINSTON – Mississippi Gulf Coast launches the second half of its MACJC South Division schedule with its biggest game.

The Bulldogs (9-3, 4-1 MACJC South) entertain South leaders Pearl River (7-1, 4-0) at 7 Wednesday night. To have any hope of winning the division, Gulf Coast knows what it has to do.

"We need the win," Gulf Coast coach Chris Handy said. "That's the pure and simple of it. They're not going to drop two games, and they'd have to drop three games."

Pearl River won the first meeting 2-1 on a pair of corner kicks. That means a one-goal Gulf Coast victory would knot the head-to-head tiebreaker, and a two-goal victory would swing things in the Bulldogs' favor.

"If you finish second, you have to go to the North bracket," Handy said. "You're talking about playing an extra game and going through Hinds and Pearl as opposed to just one of them."

He expects this game to be similar to the first one.

"It's going to come down to defending on set pieces," he said. "I don't think they've changed much. I don't know that we've changed."