Sun Herald: Ocean Springs scores 21 fourth quarter points in 30-7 win over Gulfport to earn third straight district title

New era, same result for the Greyhounds.

Ocean Springs traveled to Gulfport to face their former coach and pounded the Admirals in the fourth quarter to steal a 30-7 win and capture the program’s third consecutive region championship.

Junior running back Will Smith found the end zone three times on the ground to lead the Greyhound offense during a game that was within one score for over three quarters.

Ocean Springs forced two turnovers and two turnovers on downs in the final quarter, leading to three short fields and 21 points for the offense over the last 12 minutes.

“Defense played lights out, except for one play,” Greyhound first-year coach Jake Bramlett said. “Offensively, we were struggling with some execution out wide, but went into halftime and fixed some things, challenged those guys to execute at a high level, came out and did it in the second half. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Smith scored on touchdown runs of 27, 4 and 3 yards. His two scores in the fourth quarter put the game out of the Admirals’ reach.

The outing moved his touchdown total to 16 on the year, doubling his scoring output from a season ago when his campaign was cut short by injury.

“It’s night and day, from not having him in the second half last year to this year being able to have a bell cow in the backfield that at any point can finish off a game,” Bramlett said.