No. 6 Bulldogs face familiar foe Thursday

PERKINSTON — Like the sun rising in the east, few things are as certain as Mississippi Gulf Coast and Pearl River meeting in the postseason.

The No. 6 Bulldogs will play the No. 10 Wildcats for the sixth straight season in the playoffs Thursday. Kickoff in Ellisville is scheduled for 7 p.m. It's the fourth semifinal of a busy day of the NJCAA Gulf South District Tournament.

"It's inevitable that we're gonna meet," Gulf Coast coach Chris Handy said. "For the goals we have for ourselves, it was always going to be a hill we have to climb. The boys know that. They know the mistakes they made the first time and are looking forward to the game."

The championship will be played Saturday at 5 p.m. unless bad weather forces it to be moved to Tatum Park in Hattiesburg. It would kick off at 7 p.m. there.

Gulf Coast is the second seed in the tournament, with PRCC getting the third slot. Top-seeded Jones plays fourth-seed Hinds at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

The Bulldogs and Wildcats have met six of the past seven seasons in the postseason. It'll be their third meeting this season. The first two ended in 2-2 ties, one at Poplarville, one at Perk.

Four of those previous six meetings have gone to overtime or penalty kicks, and the other two were decided by one goal.

Expect another tight match this time around.

"We have to put together a full 90 minutes," Handy said. "We've had spurts of really good soccer, and then we've had some moments that have let us down and cost us. That's 90 minutes' worth of focus. We also have to play with the understanding the game is going to have to be won, it's not going to be given to us. We have to be aggressive in all aspects."

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