25 Teams in 25 Days: Gulfport Admirals

Still heavy-hearted at stop number two on News 25’s ’25 Teams in 25 Days’, Gulfport High School is less than three weeks removed from the tragic loss of former Admiral Zae Crain, and yet exactly a month away from playing out the 2019 season in his honor.

The Admirals are also playing for the right to drop anchor in Region 4 Class 6A for a third straight season as the reigning back-to-back district champs.

Left tackle J.T. Zakkak said, “It’s nice to be on top but it’s hard to stay on top. So it’s good to have a chip on your shoulder, helps you play better. And it’s nice knowing people want to be us, want to be after us, want to be on top.”

The Gulfport football program is a tale of two extremes heading into 2019. On the one hand, the Admirals are 16-0 in district games dating back to the end of 2016, running the table in each of the past two seasons. Outside linebacker Michael Esters III said, “Kind of feels like we have a target on our back. But I mean each year we’ve just got to get ready for what they’re going to bring.”

And despite having nothing left to prove in the regular season, the other hand, that being the post-season, is the one that is hard to explain. Gulfport is winless, 0-7, in first round playoff games dating back to 2011. “We’re all just ready to get it over with, win our first playoff game. We’re ready, more motivated than ever.”

Head Coach John Archie said, “You hate talking about it but it’s that same daunting thing that I remember is that first round playoff loss to Petal last year, and we’ve just got to get over that hump and that’s our goal. Along with winning other games but that’ll take care of itself when it gets here. But I meant we want to get over that hump when the time gets here.”

Gone are the likes of TQ Newsome and Derick Hall to the division I ranks, leaving that responsibility to the 17-member senior class of 2020, a close knit group that prides itself on energy.  “Class of 2020 has to go further than any class. We’re trying to get to a state championship.”

Wide receiver Tommie Johnson said, “I feel like it’s a lot of pressure because there’s a lot of people who probably don’t think the team is the same from last year. They probably think we’re not as good, but to me, I believe that we’re just the same. We could do the same even without the better players or seniors we had. You’ve got to crawl before you walk so we were just going to build up and get better together.”

That togetherness is a tribute to the late Zae Crain, now the angel to an Admiral football program hell-bent on attending to some unfinished business in his honor. “They took it to heart because they knew how important Admiral football was to Zae and they’ve dedicated this season to him.”

“Just playing for him this season. We all know that he wanted to get out of that first round his senior year, so we’re just trying to get to that goal.”

“These games are for him because I know that’s he was going to want. He would want us to go out there and kick some butt, so this is for Zae.”

Coach Archie says he’s most encouraged by his attendance numbers this summer, averaging about 80 players grades nine through 12.

The Admirals will kick things off against Stone on August 23^rd as a part of the third annual Port City Bowl.

And of course, Long Live Zae.