Demarcus Johnson helped MGCCC to a win last week

VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) — Vicksburg native Demarcus Johnson helped Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College win on Thursday over Jones College. The Bulldogs won 28-24, remaining undefeated with a 3-0 record this season.

Johnson, VDN’s Defensive Player of the Year a couple of years ago, had seven tackles, one sack, and two tackles for loss for MGCCC.

Tyler Henderson, another Vicksburg native, had six catches for 64 yards.

Game summary from MGCCC Athletics:

ELLISVILLE — No. 6 Mississippi Gulf Coast extended its winning streak over Jones on Friday in a typically stressful way, rallying from a first-half deficit to win 28-24 at Sim Cooley Field.

The Regulators allowed just three points after the break, and the Bulldogs’ offense came to life in the third quarter. The special teams contributed, too, with three key punts pinning the Bobcats deep.

“It was just a slugfest, really,” Gulf Coast coach Jack Wright said. “In the first half, we shot ourselves in the foot a lot on offense. It’s things that probably aren’t obvious to people that don’t go to practice every day, but I just saw a lot of small mistakes we were making on the field tonight. A little bit of that was my fault. We got out of our wheelhouse on some gameplan stuff, and we went in at halftime and just decided to run some stuff that had been good at and practice.” 

Gulf Coast (3-0) opened the MACCC South schedule by beating Jones (2-1) for the seventh straight time in a game delayed when a quarter of the stadium lights went out. The game was stopped in the first quarter, and the lights didn’t come back on for about 90 minutes. La’Zeric Johnson (Fr., Eight Mile, Ala./Blount) led the defense with 11 tackles and added half a sack, and Elijah Owens (Fr., Mobile, Ala./Citronelle) also had 11 tackles. Demarcus Johnson (Fr., Vicksburg/Vicksburg) and Bryant Ausmer (Fr., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs) had two tackles for loss each.

The Bulldogs tied the game at 21 on the opening drive of the second half. They went 75 yards in 15 plays, capped by Jayden Acker (Fr., Pass Christian/Pass Christian) making his first college reception for a 2-yard touchdown from Landon Varnes (So., Brandon/Brandon).

Jones kicked a field goal to retake the lead, and the Bulldogs defense had to stop the Bobcats after they’d gotten an interception at midfield. Varnes didn’t misfire on the next drive, finding Mason Beverly (Fr., Hattiesburg/Purvis) across the middle on the third play for a 73-yard catch-and-scamper touchdown that turned out to be the final score of the game.

“We’ve talked as a coaching staff that it seems like in every big game, last year and this year, Mason Beverly has made a play at a critical moment, and that was true tonight,” Wright said. “When he gets a little bit of room on you and catches the ball, he’s very dangerous.” 

Beverly caught the winning touchdown in last year’s Jones showdown with 63 seconds to play. He caught three passes Friday for 98 yards, and Varnes completed 17-of-28 passes for 294 yards and two touchdowns. 

Gulf Coast allowed just four first downs after taking the lead, two of which were surrendered on penalties.

“They were running the ball really well on us in the first half,” Wright said. “You were very concerned because once that kind of thing starts, it’s hard to know how to stop it. But we bowed up just enough in a second half to get a win.”

The Regulators also got the Bulldogs on the board first. Christian Bingham (So., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs) returned an interception 21 yards for a 7-0 lead.

After a pair of long Jones drives put the Bobcats up 14-7, Alan Woods (Fr., Jacksonville Fla./University Christian) made the most spectacular play of the game. He caught a pass and did a front flip over a pile of bodies, then sprinted 64 yards to the Jones 27.

“I thought I might have been down, too,” he said. “I didn’t hear a whistle, so I just continued to play. We train to play through the whistle, so I just kept running. I really don’t even know what happened. It was crazy.”

Woods scored from 13 yards out two plays later, finishing with 84 yards on 22 rushes. He also had 82 yards on four catches. Tyler Henderson (So., Vicksburg/Vicksburg) had six catches for 64 yards.

Jones scored again on the next possession to retake the lead, then might have had a chance late in the half to tack on another after stopping Gulf Coast at its 30-yard line. Instead, Joshua Selmes(Fr., Central Coast, Australia/Entrance Campus) let loose a 65-yard punt to the 5, making the field too long for a drive before halftime. 

In the fourth quarter, he had a 55-yard punt downed at the 11 and a pooch punt downed at the 12.

“Coach Wright didn’t bring me over just to do PAT holds,” Selmes joked. “I’ve been banged up a little bit, so I’m just happy that I could help the team in some big moments in this game. That’s what I’m here to do, help out the team and help out that defense.”

Gulf Coast will celebrate Homecoming after a longer week of preparation. The Bulldogs will play Southwest Mississippi at A.L. May Memorial Stadium on Sept. 20. Kickoff will be at 7 p.m.