Vicksburg had its first lead of the season in Friday’s game against visiting Richwood.

But the Gators (0-2) self-destructed late in the first half and the Rams took command from there forward in a 34-7 romp.

“We just let it get away from us,” Vicksburg coach Alonzo Stevens said. “We just hurt ourselves with too many mental errors.”

The Gators got their first lead of the season as Cameron Cooksey capped a five-play, 45-yard drive with a 10-yard toss to Lamar Anthony in the first quarter.

But from there, it was a downhill slog. The Rams (1-0) got a 35-yard completion from Andrick Mitchell to Rawtavius Ignost and Rob Emerson capped the march with a 5-yard TD. He added the two-point conversion on the same isolation play up the gut to give the Rams a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Then the Gators went into self-destruct mode. Adam Reed returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, but it was called back on a block in the back yards behind the play.

After a Markeith Burks’ interception ended a Richwood drive in the red zone with under a minute remaining in the first half, the Gators went with three inexplicable passes in the shadow of their own goalposts, all incomplete.

Cooksey’s punt was partially blocked and recovered by Richwood at the Gator 5, where Emerson took the handoff on the next play to give Richwood a 14-7 halftime lead.

The Rams were bedeviled in the first half by a spate of penalties, dropped passes and two lost fumbles. But in the second half, they threw out the tricks and went smashmouth, running up the middle for big yardage.

Antonio Wilson took the handoff on the first play from scrimmage and raced 44 yards through the heart of the Vicksburg defense for a score. Then he added another TD run a few minutes later, this time from 20 yards out, to salt the contest away.

Wilson finished with 112 yards on the ground and 71 of it came in the second half with two scores. Emerson rushed for 179 yards on 12 carries with one score.

Cooksey completed 11-of-31 passes for 80 yards with one TD pass.