By STAN CALDWELL/Sports Writer

OCEAN SPRINGS – It’s another year, another disappointment for Ocean Springs in the high school football playoffs.

The Greyhounds came up short in the Class 7A South State finals against Brandon, dropping a 31-13 decision Friday night at Hugh Laurin Pepper Field.

Brandon (12-1) will face undefeated Tupelo at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the 7A state championship game at M.M. Roberts Stadium on the Southern Miss campus in Hattiesburg. Ocean Springs (8-5) saw its season end at home to the Bulldogs for the second time in three seasons.

“We had a couple of things that didn’t go our way,” said Ocean Springs head coach Jake Bramlett. “And we had a couple of balls that we thought were fumbles that didn’t get called that way

“But give them credit; they played their tails off. Coach (Sam) Williams and his staff do a great job, and, yeah, they were a step ahead of us tonight.”

This one got away from the Greyhounds from the start, as the Bulldogs took the opening kickoff of the game for a 68-yard, 10-play scoring drive.

And right from the start, it was sophomore tailback Tyson Robinson who did the heavy lifting for Brandon. His second run of the night went for 19 yards, and he also got the touchdown, on a 3-yard run.

Robinson finished with 157 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns, and he also caught a touchdown pass.

“He’s a great player with a really bright future ahead of him,” said senior defensive lineman Bryant Ausmer.

“He does a lot of things that people don’t really do around here. He’s just different. He’s an animal. He’s going to be hard to stop for the next couple of years. A lot of people are going to have to game-plan for him.”

Ocean Springs returned the favor on its initial possession, driving 63 yards on 11 plays after a 31-yard kickoff return by senior Bryshen Smith.

The Hounds had a successful fake punt on a fourth down mean midfield, then senior tailback Will Smith Jr. converted a third down on a 13-yard pickup, and he got the score on a 12-yard run.

“The first drive was good,” said Smith. “We were doing what we wanted, moving the ball. I guess they adjusted to it, and we really didn’t change anything up to counter that That’s something they’ll have to fix next year.”

However, the Bulldogs blocked the PAT kick to maintain a 7-6 lead, and they quickly set about adding to that lead. Starting on their own 17, Robinson got Brandon out of the hole on the first play of the drive with a 49-yard scamper.

Then on third down, sophomore quarterback Sladen Shack connected with junior Preston Ashley for a 32-yard pass play to the Ocean Springs 2-yard-line, and Robinson covered that distance on the next play, completing a five-play, 83-yard drive.

The Greyhounds got a fourth-down stop near midfield, but were themselves stopped on fourth down on the ensuing series. Ocean Springs was also stopped on fourth down twice in the second half.

“Brandon did a really good job defensively,” said Bramlett. “They pursued to the ball really well. They’re really fast. They cut down the running lanes, and we had to be a little better in the air than we were.

The game turned decisively in Brandon’s favor late in the second quarter.

Junior quarterback Sharroid Whitehead drove the Hounds from their own 23 to the Brandon 28 with under a minute to play, but was picked off in the end zone by Bulldog senior Jamerion Rollins.

Brandon used three big plays to make short work of the 80 yards following the touchback. Robinson went for 32 yards, the Shack hit sophomore Graydon Walker for 30 yards, then 18 yards to Robinson for the back-breaking score with just 13 seconds left in the first half.

Ocean Springs got as far as the Brandon 15 on its opening possession of the second half, but came up empty on fourth down, then recovered a Bulldogs fumble near midfield, but were again stopped on fourth down.

This time, Brandon cashed in the fourth-down turnover, driving all the way to the Greyhound 1-yard-line before a pair of tackles for loss forced the Bulldogs to settle for a 22-yard field goal by senior Rhett Griffin on the first play of the fourth quarter.

But there was no keeping the Bulldogs out of the end zone after getting a three-and-out following the field goal, driving 52 yards on six plays for a clinching score.

A roughing the kicker penalty after a third-down kept the drive alive, and Shack did the rest, with passes of 16 and 22 yards to senior Jamaurion McQueen, the second one for the touchdown and a 31-6 lead.

For the night, Shack completed 14 of 20 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns.

In an obvious passing situation, Ocean Springs turned to freshman Chalmers Berglind to operated the offense, and he did so successfully, guiding the Greyhounds 92 yards on 17 plays, and Berglind got the score himself on a 4-yard keeper.

Berglind was 6 of 14 for 73 yards on the drive, while Whitehead completed 5 of 10 for 48 yards.

“He’s got a really nice future ahead of him,” said Bramlett of Whitehead. “He can do a lot of things for us. He can break games wide-open. He had some nice runs tonight, just not enough of them.”

Although the Greyhounds fell short of their ultimate goal, just getting to the state semifinals was an achievement after a 1-4 start to the season.

“We learned to keep pushing through,” said Smith. “Anything when you get down, just keep fighting and keep pushing. We started off bad, but we ended up in South State, and that’s a life lesson, just keep on going.”