New Life for MGCCC Bulldogs

For the last decade, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College has been a perennial playoff team in the MACJC. While there’s nothing different about that in 2016, this time the Bulldogs needed a little bit of help.
After losing to Jones County in Thursday’s regular season finale, the Bulldogs were simply living for the weekend. MGCCC Linebacker Reggio Dean said, “I was nervous, man. All I could think about, I just didn’t want it to be the last game with my teammates. I love these guys and God just came through with the prayers and let us get another opportunity.”
Head Coach Chad Huff said, “You like to always control the things you can control and when you put it in somebody else’s hands then the outcome is what you’ve got to live with.”
As long as Gulf Coast avoided a three way tie with East Central and Co-Lin, a head to head win over the latter would be enough to get the Bulldogs back to the playoffs for a 10th straight season, but that meant playing the waiting game through Saturday. MGCCC Offensive Lineman Kevin Haas said, “Like you said, it’s a waiting game. I was nervous all day. I went to the Co-Lin, Pearl River game and once Co-Lin kind of ran away with that, it was just a waiting game to see what East Central was going to do in Southwest. They took care of business and we were able to see another day.”
That new life has MGCCC on a first round collision course with the nation’s third ranked team East Mississippi, setting the stage for a week two rematch that the Lions won 45-7. “We created our own mistakes. We’ve got to make sure we come ready to play, take care of the football, match the intensity and play for 60 minutes,” said Huff.
“A lot of schools around the country are hanging it up and we’re getting the opportunity to play once again. That’s big to me regardless of who we’re playing,” said Dean.
The Bulldogs are playing “Last Chance U” for the chance to not only compete for a state title, but also pump the brakes on season two. “I mean, we’ve got something to prove, you know? They’ve got the TV show, but we’d like to ruin it for them, we’d like to take advantage of that,” said Haas.
“Win, that simple. Just win. Do whatever we’ve got to do to win, that’s it,” said Dean.
The Bulldogs travel to Scooba for Saturday’s game, set to kick off at 2 p.m.