Vicksburg High linebacker Rory Johnson raises his hands in celebration after the Gators beat Clinton. It was one of six straight region wins that vaulted VHS to the top of Region 2-5A. The season ended, though, with two straight losses. (Melanie Duncan ThortisThe Vicksburg Post)

[11/18/03]Vicksburg High’s run to a share of the Region 2-5A championship started with an explosion and ended with an implosion. Now the Gators will be left to pick up the pieces, figure out what went wrong, and rebuild for the future.

Vicksburg’s season ended on Friday night with a disappointing 31-0 loss to West Point in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs. It was the Gators’ second straight blowout loss after ripping off six straight wins, and the collapse was as bewildering as it was thorough:

Between the two games, Vicksburg’s opponents got first downs on three straight punts because the Gators had 12 men on the field each time.

Standout linebacker Rory Johnson and kicker Sean McGowan were both lost to knee injuries early in a 35-6 loss to Warren Central in the regular-season finale. Neither played against West Point.

The Gators’ well-balanced offense, which had gained nearly 3,000 yards in its first 10 games, had only 59 total yards and just 15 rushing yards in the loss to West Point.

Quarterback James Jackson had completed 55.4 percent of his passes before the WC game, but was just 9-for-23 for 44 yards against the Vikings and West Point.

During Vicksburg’s winning streak, it outscored its opponents 172-45. Three of the six wins were shutouts, and the VHS defense allowed only seven points in another game.

In the two losses, the defense allowed five scoring drives of 10 plays or more. Two of the drives, one against Warren Central and another against West Point, lasted nearly 10 minutes apiece.

“We were playing so great. I don’t know what happened the last two games. We just didn’t execute and got whupped,” senior VHS receiver and safety Ben Shelton said after the loss to West Point. “We were on such a high going undefeated and going into Warren Central, thinking we were going to beat them. And even coming out of that loss we had opportunities in this game and it didn’t work out.”

The end of the Gators’ season was similar to the beginning. VHS started the year 1-3, with only a triple-overtime win against Brookhaven. The three losses included a 14-12 setback against woeful Natchez, which finished the season 1-10.

In the second half of a 49-20 loss to South Pike, things began to turn around. The Gators were much more competitive and consistent than they had been, and the spark they needed to jumpstart their run toward a region title came the next week against Grenada.

VHS trailed 24-7 in their Region 2-5A opener before scoring threw three touchdowns in the last six minutes to rally for a 27-24 win.

They won their next five games in increasingly dominant fashion, culminating with a 47-0 rout of Murrah that gave VHS a share of the Region 2-5A title for the second straight season.

Some of the chinks in the Gators’ armor began to show in the second half of that game, however. After holding the Mustangs to 42 yards in the first half, Murrah gained 219 in the second half and drove inside the Vicksburg 15-yard line three times. VHS kept Murrah out of the end zone with several timely turnovers, but they weren’t so lucky the next week against WC.

Warren Central overcame a disastrous opening series by blocking a VHS field goal and converting a fourth-and-inches deep in their own territory, and things began to go south from there for the Gators.

McGowan was injured when a WC player rolled into him on the blocked field goal, and Johnson tore his ACL while playing tailback early in the second quarter. Two turnovers and a long punt return led to 21 WC points in a five-minute span, and all of the momentum the Gators had piled up over the previous six weeks was gone.

There seemed to be little intensity left on the sideline the following week against West Point, and the Gators were never really in the game.

“I guess we crumbled. We thought we could bounce back from that loss last week, but I guess we couldn’t,” VHS linebacker Ray Kline said after the loss to West Point.

Now, it’s time for a different group of Gators to pick up the pieces and move on.

Only one offensive starter, tight end Sean Gibbs, and three defensive starters return next season. Some of the players that will step in next season, like running back Cordarryl Gleese and quarterback Eugene Morgan, saw playing time this year. Many of the returning players are on the small side, though, and need to work hard and bulk up in the offseason, VHS coach Alonzo Stevens said.

“We’re going to definitely be young. We’ve got a lot of kids that stepped in and played that we’re looking at. These guys have got a chance to grow up a little bit,” Stevens said. “We have a good group coming back. We just have to have some people step up into the role.”

The success of the past three seasons a trip to the North State championship game and back-to-back region co-championships have lifted the expectations for the VHS program. Stevens said it might not be long before the Gators live up to those expectations again.

“I think our foundation is solid, and we’ve just got to build on that foundation,” Stevens said. “We’ve got expectations of winning the district and going to the playoffs and doing well in the playoffs. These guys know what we expect of them … We’ve just got to take the positive and build from it.”