Even if they had won Friday night, the Vicksburg Gators did not get the help they needed to sneak into the Class 5A football playoffs.

It didn’t matter, though, since the Gators did nothing to help themselves.

Holmes County Central returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, got out to a 33-point lead at halftime, and eliminated Vicksburg from playoff contention with a 46-13 victory.

Holmes (10-1, 7-0 Region 2-5A), which had already clinched the Region 2-5A championship, scored 20 points in the first quarter and was never threatened.

Vicksburg’s two touchdowns came on passes from Levi Wyatt to Tacarie Stewart in the first half, and Wyatt to Joshua Pedyfoot in the fourth quarter.

“We had a couple of turnovers and it kind of got away from us early,” Vicksburg coach Tim Hughes said. “You want to have things go your way, and when it doesn’t it’s a snowball effect. I gave them a challenge at halftime and they responded. We made some plays and got some defensive stops in the second half. It just wasn’t in the cards for us.”

Vicksburg, Ridgeland, Canton and Cleveland Central entered the night tied for fourth place and the final playoff spot in Region 2-5A, but all of them needed to win and have at least one of the others lose.

Vicksburg (3-7, 2-5) needed a win and for both Ridgeland and Canton to lose in order to qualify for the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. Ridgeland was blown out 34-0 by Germantown, but Canton beat Cleveland Central 42-15.

Canton’s victory put it into the playoffs, and it will go on the road next week to take on two-time defending Class 5A champion West Point in the first round.

Vicksburg, meanwhile, will collect equipment this weekend and begin its offseason program on Tuesday. Hughes, who just completed his first season as the coach of his alma mater, said he was looking forward to a full offseason to work with his players. He was hired in late February and was on the job for spring practice, but is a lot more settled now and said he has a feel for where the program needs to go heading into 2019.

“We’re going to start Tuesday on our offseason. We already have it set up and a plan in place. I think everybody that’s here knows our personnel and what we need to work on,” Hughes said. “When you have a bad season, a lot of times attitude and (poor) effort sneaks in when the results aren’t coming. If you take the time to coach somebody up on that in the season, you’re missing the boat. You need to coach football during football season. You need to coach attitude and effort in the offseason. We need to make the kids bigger, faster and stronger. We also have to make them greedier and teach them to enjoy the grind.”