Gulf Coast advances to MACJC finals with 5-2 win

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast erupted for four second-half goals to pull away from Southwest, winning 5-2 in the MACJC semifinals.

James Beattie scored two goals, as did Jordan Hall. Hall also assisted on Windham Whatley's first goal of the season, which broke a 1-1 tie in the 62^nd minute.

"It was a great time to score my first," Whatley said. "We'd been preaching that they had a backup keeper in and to just shoot. People have been telling me to shoot all year, and I finally got the space to shoot. It was there, and that changed the momentum and opened everything up."

Gulf Coast will be looking for its first MACJC title since 2011 on Saturday against Hinds. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:0

Southwest, which finishes the season 12-6, played without its starting keeper after he received a red card in the quarterfinals Tuesday. Two Bears players were shown red cards Friday.

James Beattie (5-7, 155, So., Williamwood/Glasgow, Scotland) opened the scoring in the 12^th minute after an assist from Aarin Johnson (6-2, 290, Fr., The Cottesloe School/London). Johnson maneuvered around a Southwest player and his sharp pass from the end line found Beattie in the six-yard box.

A Bulldogs giveaway gave Jaime Delor a breakaway nine minutes later, and his 30^th goal of the season tied it up.

Whatley's second-half goal was followed by the first by Hall (5-9, 163, Fr., Royton and Crompton/Manchester, England), in the 69^th minute. Beattie scored a minute later off a pass from Dustin Bosch (5-11, 165, Fr., St. Stanislaus/Bay St. Louis).

Delor, the nation's leading scorer, made the final six minutes interesting by cutting the Southwest deficit to 4-2.

Hall, however, scored off a pass from Nick Lewelling (5-9, 155, Fr., East Central/Hurley) and did his second front flip of the night in celebration.

"They were marking me really well and I was unable to see the ball," Hall said. "What changed in the last half hour was they had no choice but to press higher and leave more gaps at the back. I was able to run onto the ball and score."

Gulf Coast coach Chris Handy said his team probably took shots too quickly early on. The Bulldogs were looking to test the backup keeper, but wound up rushing their attack as a result.

He said the team was calm at halftime and adjusted in the final 45 minutes.

"Once we settled and played," Handy said, "I thought we had more opportunities and we pretty much controlled the whole second half."

The win not only clinched a trip to the state championship game against North No. 1-seed Hinds, but it earns the Bulldogs an additional game in the South District playoffs.

The winner of Sunday's game, scheduled for 5:30 p.m., will host San Jacinto next weekend.  The loser travels to Tyler.

"That was the one thing we could point to today," Handy said. "We're excited for the opportunity to advance to the district playoffs. Now we can focus on winning the state tomorrow."

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