Week 8’s biggest stories: Coast star’s latest domination leads way in South Mississippi

Scoreboards were lit up across the Mississippi Coast during week eight.

Monster numbers and playoff tickets punched highlight some of the biggest stories of the week. Full scores and standings can be found at SunHerald.com.

Here were the biggest stories from week eight on the Coast.

Tigers eliminated

All that’s left for Moss Point (0-8, 0-3) is pride. The once-proud program will miss the playoffs for the second straight year for the first time since 1981-82. Even worse, the Tigers are in danger of going winless for the first time since 1952 with one game left on the schedule.

A 41-0 loss to Pass Christian officially eliminated Moss Point from the playoffs and clinched every other spot out of the five-team Region 8-4A. The final two weeks of the regular season will be for seeding with a looming Halloween bout between Poplarville and Greene County shaping up to be the district’s championship game.

Basketball on turf

Who needs defense? Not Picayune and West Harrison. The Hurricanes (4-3, 0-2) dropped their fourth 50-burger in program history but, unlike the previous three, they were on the lower end of the scoreboard this time.

Picayune (6-2, 2-0) won a fast-paced race, 69-50, scoring more points against West Harrison than anyone ever had before. Darrell Smith racked up nearly 300 all-purpose yards and had touchdown runs of 59, 69 and 97 yards. His 253 rushing yards keep him in front of the pack as the state’s leading rusher.

The Maroon Tide are winners of four in a row and can clinch their 20th consecutive trip to the postseason with a win over Long Beach (2-6, 0-2) next week.

Vancleave dominates

The Bulldogs continue to be road warriors. Vancleave (4-3, 1-1) played spoiler to Stone’s (3-4, 1-1) homecoming with a dominant 37-13 win over the Tomcats.

Vancleave recovered two fumbles on Stone’s first two possessions, jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never looked back. Hunter Harper and Kyle Capers combined for 150 rushing yards and Wyatt Adams threw a pair of touchdown passes.

It was a critical win for the Bulldogs in the race for home field advantage out of Region 4-5A and the third straight road win for Kevin Fant’s team.

Greyhound defense beginning to thrive

Ocean Springs struggled to string together stops during a rocky run through its non-district schedule, but is beginning to round into form.

The Greyhounds (3-4, 2-0) dominated Harrison Central (2-5, 1-1), 48-3, one week after stifling D’Iberville (3-4, 0-2) in a 27-13 win. The Ocean Springs defense recorded seven sacks and 17 tackles for loss against the Red Rebels, as well as three fumbles recovered and a safety courtesy of Ayden Watson.

All eyes are now on Biloxi (3-4, 1-1) with the likely de facto region championship against Gulfport (5-2, 2-0) lurking two weeks away.

One man highlight reel

Trey Irving continued his electric run with another impressive performance behind center for Gautier (6-1, 2-0).

The Gators had little issue with Wayne County in a 31-8 win led by Irving’s three touchdown passes and one rushing score. Irving is now up to four straight games with four touchdowns responsible for and has 22 total for the season.

Gautier has won five in a row in its quest for the school’s first district title since 2008.