Vicksburg’s defense gave up a lot of yards, but when it really counted, they gave back.

Defensive back DeAnte Drayton returned a Gentry fumble 40 yards for a touchdown for the first score of the game. Later, as the Rams were driving inside the 20 toward the tying score, Paul Wilson intercepted a Gentry with 16 seconds left to secure the Gators’ 21-14 victory.

“That was real sweet,” Gators coach Marcus Rodgers said of Wilson’s interception. “We knew that they weren’t going to throw it that much and if they did he would just try to throw it long.”

Vicksburg seemingly spent the rest of the night trying to stop Gentry’s Ladarius Galloway, who had 170 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries.

“All I heard from the people I talked to was watch him,” Rogers said.

Gentry (1-3) relied heavily on Galloway, who carried the ball on all but a handful of plays for its offense and scored all the Rams’ points. He had a 50-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and followed it with a two-point conversion carry. Midway through the third, he tacked on a 72-yard touchdown run to tie the score at 14.

Galloway also took a 70-yard punt return into the end zone, but it was called back because of a block in the back. Besides the breakaways, Galloway’s longest run was nine yards.

“If we do our assignment, we’re going to be in good shape. We worked on finishing tackles and finishing plays,” Rogers said. “It all correlated to the game. We worked on it during the week.”

Vicksburg’s offense seemed like it just couldn’t get clicking, though there were plenty of bright spots.

With 2:45 left in the first quarter, Tedarius Brown scored on a 44-yard run to put the Gators up 14-0, and on the first drive of the fourth quarter, Marquez Pickett connected with Brown on a 45-yard pass to give Vicksburg its winning score.

“I went back to some basic things — just going under center and getting in the I-formation, running right at people,” Rogers said.

A dozen Vicksburg players ran the ball Friday night, and only Brown, a wide receiver, topped 50 yards. He had 54 yards on two carries.

The passing game, though, wasn’t the brightest spot. Pickett completed just 3 of 11 passes and was sacked three times.

“I’ve got some guys who are banged up and at the end we had to put a receiver at tailback,” Rogers said of the reason for the running back-by-committee style and the depleted receiver corps.

Vicksburg has an open week next week, and its coaches plan to watch region rival Lanier take on Terry.

“We just had to get the job done and want to get into the open week where we’ve got some time to get some guys back and get ready for Lanier,” he said.