After their preseason tune-up, the Vicksburg Gators still seemed a little clunky.

The Gators fumbled five times, which led to two touchdowns, and Laurel beat them 12-0 in a two-quarter scrimmage game Friday night.

Laurel scored a defensive touchdown off of one of the fumbles, and the other led to a scoring drive. Vicksburg also fumbled at the 1-yard line when it was going in for a potential touchdown.

“They didn’t drive the ball. It was our mistakes,” Vicksburg coach Christopher Lacey said.

Lacey added that it was frustrating to see his team make so many small mistakes, but not completely disheartening.

“It’s things that lose a football game — mental errors, mistakes, missed tackles — the little things that make good football teams win games. It’s just the small stuff,” Lacey said. “I’m confident in our team. We’ve got a really good team. We’ve got a team that can compete with anybody in the state. We’ve just got to shore up our mistakes. It’s just the mental part of the game. We can fix that in practice. It’s just the buy-in from everybody.”

Running back Cedrick Blackmore carried the ball eight times for 50 yards for the Gators, and defensive lineman Demarcus Johnson had four tackles and a sack.

The Gators will play their season opener next Friday in the Red Carpet Bowl, against Holmes County Central. Kickoff is at 8 p.m. at Memorial Stadium, in game two of the annual doubleheader. Warren Central plays Clinton at 5:30 p.m. in the first game.