By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PERKINSTON — Gautier has played for the Class 5A South State championship in each of the past two seasons, a first in program history.
Friday night here at A.L. May Stadium on the campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, the Gators notched yet another historical milestone in the history books of their gridiron program.
Gautier captured its first region title since 2008 with a 35-6 thumping of home-standing Stone in Region 4-5A action, pushing the Gators to a perfect 4-0 in the region race and 8-1 overall. The decision assures head coach Marc High’s crew of the top seed in the loop for pairing purposes in the upcoming Class 5A South State playoffs.

“Our kids have worked hard all year,” High, in his seventh season at the helm of the Gators, said. “It’s a good feeling to know the we have accomplished something that hasn’t been done in a while.”
Senior quarterback Trey Irving accounted for three touchdowns in the winning effort and Gautier also got a special teams score and the Gator defense set up a touchdown as well.
Irving quickly went to work in the first quarter to give Gautier a lead it would never relinquish, as he found Sebastian Gonzalez in the end zone on a on fourth and goal scoring pass from 10-yards out to make it 7-0 at the 7:12 of the opening period.
A little over a quarter later, Irving scampered 25-yards for a score to make it 13-0 with 8:33 left in the second stanza.

On the ensuing Tomcat possession, the Gators forced a three and out and Gautier’s Brayden Jackson blocked the punt and Elijah Pogue returned it 36-yards for a score. Irving found Gonzalez on the two-point conversion pass to make it 21-0 with 7:30 to play before halftime.
Armed with that 21 point lead, Gautier basically put the game away mid-way through the third period when Latrell Pogue punched in a scoring run from a yard out to extend the Gator lead to 28-0.
Gautier made it 35-0 early in the fourth frame on a 12-yard scoring dash by Irving.
That score was set up when Jackson sacked Stone quarterback Xander Howard and Gator linebacker Fredrick Nicholson recovered the fumble.
The Tomcats finally got on the scoreboard on an Ayden Green 12-yard touchdown run with less than a minute left in the game.
Nicholson led the GHS defense with 11 total tackles.