Copiah-Lincoln’s Joe Craig (3) scores the game-winning touchdown against Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in the MACJC Championship Game.
PERKINSTON—Penalties, turnovers, and explosive plays. Gulf Coast head coach Steve Campbell predicted those would be the factors that decided the 2012 MACJC Championship game between #11 Co-Lin and #6 Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. It proved to be prophetic as Co-Lin made explosive plays, and the Bulldogs turned it over four times and committed 12 penalties in a 41-37 loss which sends the Wolfpack (9-2) to the 2012 Mississippi Bowl Dec. 2 in Biloxi. The win by the Wolfpack also avenges a 54-21 loss to Gulf Coast back on Oct. 20. “We didn’t play well enough to win,” Campbell lamented after the setback. “Co-Lin made the plays and we didn’t. Our team did not play well enough to win a championship today.” The loss ends a six game winning streak by Gulf Coast (9-2) and snaps a 20-game home winning streak at A.L. May Memorial Stadium. Gulf Coast had a chance to possibly win it late in the fourth quarter but quarterback Clint Hatten (10-24, 279 yards, 2 TD) tossed his third interception of the game on a first and ten from the Co-Lin 30 with 1:00 left in the game. Greg Sims intercepted Hatten’s pass in the end zone as he got position in front of Gulf Coast receiver Tyrone Williams. Gulf Coast led 24-13 at halftime but Co-Lin, who had lost five straight to Gulf Coast before Saturday’s Championship Game, got four touchdown passes from quarterback Chandler Rogers. The last one going to Joe Craig from 15 yards out which gave Co-Lin a 41-31 lead with 5:54 left in the game. Gulf Coast responded with a spectacular 97-yard TD catch by freshman wideout Dhaquille Williams as he jumped in front of two Co-Lin defenders to make the catch and take it to the end zone. Kicker Stephen Brauchle’s extra point attempt was blocked which put the score at 41-37. The Bulldogs had the ball at their own 26 with 53 seconds left when Hatten found Williams on a 44-yard hook up which set up the comeback attempt. Williams finished with 9 catches for 234 yards and two scores, the first one coming with 7:36 left in the first half which gave the Bulldogs a 21-6 lead. A minute later, Rogers connected with Marquis Hayes on the first of three long touchdown passes that cut the lead to 21-13. Hayes caught 8 passes for 227 yards and three scores from 49, 77, and 46 yards out respectively. Co-Lin’s Casey Gladney returned a punt 70 yards for a TD to cut the lead to 24-20 in the third quarter and sparked a 28-point second half by the Wolfpack. A 51-yard TD reception by JoJo Snell from Hatten was the only other Gulf Coast score in the second half. “We’ve got a young football team,” said Campbell, who led Gulf Coast to its sixth straight MACJC title game and seventh since 2005. “We’ve got to learn from this and move on.”
