Vicksburg’s Keithon Burnett reacts after the Gators’ 31-0 loss to West Point. (Melanie Duncan ThortisThe Vicksburg Post)

[11/15/03]In the blink of an eye, it was over.

Vicksburg High, which had looked so dominant during a six-game winning streak earlier this season, suddenly couldn’t block, tackle, or score.

The Gators were held to just 15 rushing yards and 59 yards of total offense, while West Point held the ball for nearly 18 minutes in the second half and dealt VHS a crushing 31-0 loss in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

“It just crumbled,” VHS senior linebacker Ray Kline said. “We thought we could bounce back from that loss last week, but I guess we couldn’t.”

West Point’s Vernon Morton led the Green Wave with 127 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries, and Cedrick Wells added 86 yards and two scores. West Point will face South Panola in the second round next week.

The Gators will head into the offseason wondering how things went so bad, so quickly.

Two weeks ago they were riding a six-game winning streak and heading into the final game of the season with a shot at the Region 2-5A championship. Then they lost their last two games, to Warren Central and West Point, by a total of 66-6.

“The most disappointing thing is to start the season slow and to come up big. We were playing so great, and then I don’t know what happened,” said Vicksburg wide receiver Ben Shelton, who caught three passes for 44 yards. “The last two games we just didn’t execute.”

Things went bad for Vicksburg right off the bat on Friday night.

On the first play of the game, the Gators tried a flea flicker. VHS quarterback James Jackson had Maurice Taylor wide open about 30 yards deep in the secondary, but Jackson was sacked before he had a chance to throw the ball. It was the first of four sacks by West Point in the first half, and was followed by a 5-yard loss on a swing pass and an incompletion.

“They had somebody in the backfield every play,” Shelton said.

The Gators punted, and West Point took a 7-0 lead with a quick 38-yard drive capped by a 2-yard run from Morton.

Vicksburg moved the ball into West Point territory on its next possession with a 40-yard pass from Jackson to Ben Shelton, but Jackson overthrew an open Taylor near the goal line and was sacked on fourth-and-6 from the West Point 35.

Jackson was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct at the end of the play, and the Green Wave cashed in on the short field again. It took only three plays before Wells scored from 21 yards out to put West Point ahead 14-0 with 2:01 left in the first quarter.

“Some nights things don’t go right for you. I know it was a big blow to lose their linebacker,” West Point coach David Allen said, referring to VHS standout Rory Johnson, who suffered a torn knee ligament last week. “Everybody might have just had a little doubt, and we take it down there and score the first time and that doubt becomes reality and the next thing you know the game’s over with.”

West Point added a 25-yard field goal by D.D. Young for a 17-0 lead at halftime, then put the game away with an epic drive that spanned the length of the third quarter.

The Green Wave took the second-half kickoff and marched 80 yards in 17 plays. The drive lasted 9 minutes and 59 seconds, and finally ended when Patrick Thompson scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak on fourth-and-goal. The score put West Point ahead 24-0 and utterly deflated the Gators.

“That was probably a killer for them, to be honest with you. We ate most of the clock, ate most of the third quarter up,” Allen said.

West Point put together another long drive in the fourth quarter, this time eating up 7 minutes before Wells’ 1-yard TD run made it 31-0.

In all, West Point held the ball for 17:46 in the second half, while Vicksburg ran only nine plays. The Gators’ only first down of the second half came on a 15-yard scramble by Jackson late in the fourth quarter, and was followed by a short pass and three straight incompletions. West Point took over near midfield and ran out the clock, ending the game and the Gators’ season.

“We had our chances, and just misfired,” VHS coach Alonzo Stevens said. “A little too long, a little too short. We came out being aggressive … and just couldn’t get out of the rut.

“They came, they played, they played hard and kept us off-balance.”