RIDGELAND — The Vicksburg Gators started this season, like every high school football team in Mississippi, with high hopes and expectations. The journey ended Thursday night with one last round of postgame bro-hugs and soaking in the hard life lessons the game teaches.

Vicksburg lost 42-22 to Ridgeland in its season finale. It completed the first-ever winless season for the current version of Vicksburg High that opened in 1973, and the first since 1952 for any school bearing the Vicksburg High name.

Afterward, the Gators (0-10, 0-5 MHSAA Region 2-6A) tried to make sense of it all.

“It was pretty frustrating. We’ve just got to keep our head up and face the adversity. The young guys have to work harder in the spring and summer and make up for this year,” senior running back DeCorey Knight Jr. said. “(Coach Christopher Lacey) is always telling us to keep our head up and fight through adversity. This is teaching us how to be a man in real life. We’ve just got to take what he’s saying and use it.”

Like most of their other games this season, the Gators were competitive against Ridgeland (6-4, 3-2). They took an early lead on Knight’s 2-yard touchdown run on the game’s opening possession and were tied 14-all when the momentum swung decisively in Ridgeland’s favor during the last minute of the first half.

Ridgeland got the ball at the Vicksburg 37-yard line with 1:14 to go and quickly drove for a go-ahead 2-yard touchdown run by Cornelius Carraway.

On the ensuing kickoff, Knight ran back to field a bouncing ball at the 1-yard line and managed to weave through the coverage for a 99-yard touchdown that would have tied it again going into halftime. A holding penalty at midfield, well away from the play, negated the return and kept Ridgeland ahead 21-14.

Ridgeland got the ball to start the second half and embarked on a seven-minute drive capped by an 18-yard touchdown run by quarterback DK Wallace. It also scored on its next two possessions to eventually go ahead 42-14 early in the fourth quarter.

In all, Ridgeland scored on four consecutive possessions and had the ball in the red zone when the game ended. The Titans finished with 364 rushing yards as a team. Damien Salter led them with 114 yards and two touchdowns, Carraway had 92 and two TDs, and Wallace had 75 yards and two TDs.

“That wasn’t a penalty, but again, in life stuff is going to go wrong so you’ve got to be able to respond to it and we didn’t respond to it,” Vicksburg coach Christopher Lacey said, referring to the negated kickoff return touchdown. “That’s on me. I’ve got to get them trained up and put them in situations where they’re able to come back from stuff like that.”

For Vicksburg, linebacker Stephen Anderson had eight tackles and two fumble recoveries on defense and Knight powered the offense with a string of big plays.

Knight turned two short swing passes into touchdowns covering 85 and 45 yards, and finished with four receptions for 169 yards. He also ran for 38 yards and the one early touchdown. Quarterback Jamikal Maxey had a career-high 214 passing yards thanks to Knight’s efforts.

Knight finished his high school career as Vicksburg High’s leader in rushing yardage, with 2,998 over three varsity seasons at the school. He also had 68 as a freshman at Warren Central.

His performance Thursday pushed him over 1,000 career receiving yards as well, making him the first player in Warren County history to have 3,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards. He wound up with 1,020 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns on 52 receptions.

“He’s special. He’s one of the greats that’s going to be in that green jersey. We’re going to have to hang his picture up somewhere or something.,” Lacey said. “He’s a good leader, a good kid. I’m going to miss him. Hopefully he goes off to the next level and do what he’s supposed to do.”

Knight’s season was a rare bright spot in an otherwise gloomy fall for the Gators. Lacey said he plans to have the team back in the weight room Monday to begin offseason workouts and then spend the next nine months trying to pull a proud program out of its hard skid.

“It’s disappointing because we want to win. We want championships. We aren’t reaching it, and that’s on me. I’ve got to be better as a coach. No excuses. I’ve just got to get better, get my team better, get them more prepared and learn from what happened,” Lacey said. “It’s part of the journey. I can’t preach adversity to my kids if I don’t step up and meet it either, so that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to lead them to do it and we’re going to come back better.”