MONROE — Progress has been painfully slow for the Vicksburg Gators through the first three weeks of the 2012 season.

Despite a 41-0 thrashing Saturday afternoon by the Richwood Rams, first-year Vicksburg coach Tavares Johnson Sr. said the Gators showed some progress.

Johnson pointed specifically to the first quarter when the Gators went on two sustained drives, including one that reached the Richwood 3-yard line. The opening drive came up empty and the early momentum was quickly flipped when Richwood took advantage of the Gators’ inexperienced secondary on its next possession.

“We had more total offense in those first two drives than we had in a whole game in the opener,” Johnson said. “That was progress. If we could just punch in that score when we got it down to the 3-yard line, I think it’s a different ballgame.”

For the record, Vicksburg (0-2) had 111 yards of offense after the first two drives. Running back Jalen Williams had a pair of nice runs of 19 and 31 yards. He had 70 yards by the end of the first quarter. Yet, he only finished with 73 as the Rams limited him to a net of three yards over the last three quarters.

Former Vicksburg High player and assistant coach Toriano Wells is Richwood’s new defensive coordinator. He made some adjustments with Richwood’s linebackers that put a stop to the Gators’ running attack.

“Our linebackers got out of position when they showed us the zone read,” Wells said. “They needed to stay at home and we did that beginning with their third drive. We played really well from that point on.”

The Ram defense held Vicksburg to just two yards rushing until Terrell Smith ripped off runs of 12 and 29 yards in the fourth quarter off the jet sweep. Gators quarterback Tavares Johnson Jr. had a tough day, going just 7-of-20 for 34 yards. He was also sacked twice in the second half.

Vicksburg’s young secondary got exposed in the second quarter. The Rams’ David Allen connected on three passes of more than 38 yards.

The first got Richwood away from its own end zone after the defense stopped Vicksburg’s second drive at the Ram 4. The second went for 41-yard touchdown to Jaquez Brown. The last was a 59-yard TD bomb with 56 seconds left before the half.

Johnson had two new corners in the second half, putting his two promising sophomore receivers, De’Andre King and Edward Davis, at corner. Allen completed just two passes in the second half and one of the incompletions was a nicely broken up deep pass by Davis.

Another bright spot for the Gators was the play of freshman linebacker Roderick Williams. He had a pair of tackles for loss. Junior outside linebacker Kedarian Wells had an 11-yard sack of Allen.