25 Teams in 25 Days: Gulfport Admirals

When a high school football team goes undefeated in league play during the regular season, a head coaching change isn’t normally the end result. Following the retirement of Eddie Pierce, it’s up to John Archie to build on Gulfport’s 2017 district title without the disappointment of yet another first-round playoff exit.

“We don’t accept average here at Gulfport. We want to be exceptional in everything we do, on and off the field.” Spoken like a true Admiral, first year Head Coach John Archie never forgot how to steer the ship after spending the last three years at Germantown High School. “The change started when Coach Archie came in.”

“It started with us in January when I first took the job. We kind of changed up what we did in the weight room when we hit the weight room, everything we did we accepted it with a challenge and we responded. Our kids responded well with it,” said Archie.

Archie’s first stint with the Admirals stretched from 2011 to 2014 which runs parallel to Gulfport’s current streak of six playoff appearances over the past seven seasons. The only problem being a 0-6 hex from the high seas. Wide receiver/ cornerback Zae Crain said, “This year we’re looking forward to getting past that curse that we usually have, the first-round curse. We’re going to get past that this year.”

Linebacker Derick Hall said, “Coach Archie, he’s changing the culture here. We’re tired of that one-and-done mentality here on the Coast, so we’re just trying to change that, get past the first round and be Gulfport Admiral football.”

Last year’s home overtime loss to Meridian is the one that really hurt after running the table in region 4 class 6A with a perfect mark of 7-0. “After that heartfelt loss, me and T.Q., we know what it takes to get there so I mean we’re just trying to get these guys ready. We turned that page after that day, like it’s time to get back to the grind, we’re trying to get these guys ready to play ball.”

Quarterback T.Q. Newsome said, “It was wild to have such a great run in our region and then kind of come out and get slapped in the face a little bit. It was really a reality check, and it showed us what we needed to be.”

What the Admirals need to be is tough with the rest of the league now gunning for that district crown. But if their future division I signees have anything to say about it, they’re gonna do it on the field. “Oh yeah, I mean there’s definitely a bullseye on our back. We ran the table, I mean everybody wants to beat us now. But I mean we’re going to play ball, I mean it’s Gulfport, I mean it’s no doubt we’ve got to play ball.”

“Yeah, I feel like there’s a bullseye on our back. Obviously, any time you can come out as a region champ everybody is going to be gunning for you. But at the end of the day like I kind of said earlier, we’ve just got to do what we can do and we control our own destiny.”

“Our main thing is we’re going to win and like I said, we’re going to represent Gulfport first and foremost and put a quality product on and off the field.”

Gulfport kicks off the 2018 campaign against George County as a part of the August 17^th Port City Bowl. The Admirals also have a home jamboree against St. Stanislaus on Friday.