By Stan Caldwell/Sports Writer

HATTIESBURG — George County found the going rough against Hattiesburg, and that means the Rebels have little margin for error in the hunt for a playoff berth in Region 3-6A.

GCHS couldn’t tame the Tigers on defense, and weren’t able to get enough offense going in the second half to keep up in a 42-21 defeat Friday night at D.I. Patrick Stadium.

George County dropped to 3-5 and 1-2, and must win at least one of its remaining two games to ensure a spot in the postseason. HHS improved to 6-2 overall and 3-0 in the region heading into next week’s showdown against West Jones.

“I’m proud of our kids,” said George County coach Kelly Causey. “They’re a really good team. They’re a team that everybody expects may have a shot to go to state. And it built our confidence a little that we showed we can play with a caliber team like that.”

Indeed, the Rebels made Hattiesburg work for it, playing a splendid first half on offense that ended 21-21. Senior Branden Gautier was the center of attention for George County, rushing 31 times for 152 yards and two touchdowns, and he caught three passes for 43 yards.

“Me, personally, I’m just a guy on the team,” said Gautier. “When the team calls my name, I’m going to be there and execute the game plan.”

But the Rebels never did completely stop the high-flying Tiger passing attack. GCHS got a takeaway in the second quarter that allowed the Rebels to take a 21-14 lead, then got a fourth-down stop near the end of the first half.

But other than a kneel-down in the game’s final seconds, Hattiesburg scored touchdowns on its other six possessions.

Junior Gavin Ducksworth was nearly perfect passing the ball, completing 21 of 24 passes for 389 yards and three touchdowns, and his most productive receiver was not named Tristen Keys.

Keys, among the nation’s top-rated wide receivers, had a great first half, catching six passes for 100 yards and a touchdown. But in the second half, he turned it over to senior Davion Young, who finished with nine receptions for 230 yards and two scores.

The tone for the first half set right from the get-go. George County won the coin toss and deferred, and the Tigers wasted no time getting the ball down the field.

Keys took a bubble screen 12 yards on the game’s first play, and capped an eight-play, 80-yard opening drive with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Ducksworth.

The Rebels showed what they could do on their first possession of the game, taking just six plays to cover 84 yards. The big play was a 65-yard burst by Gautier through right guard down to the Hattiesburg 1-yard line, and Gautier covered the distance on the next play for the score.

“We controlled the clock a little bit,” said Causey. “That what you’ve got to do when you play a team like Hattiesburg.

“And that’s what we’re trying to do anyway. We want to control the ball and get to the fourth quarter with a chance to win, and we were right there at it. But they’re just a really talented team that a lot of people think has a chance to play for state.”

Back came Hattiesburg with a six-play scoring drive of its own, covering 80 yards. Two big pass plays, of 40 yards to Keys and 24 yards to sophomore Kahmad Plump, got the Tigers to the Rebel 3, and sophomore Bryson Barnes scored from there on the next play.

But George County wasn’t through. The Rebels got exactly what they wanted on the next possession, taking 5 minutes, 40 seconds off the clock in a 10-play scoring drive. Gautier had a 19-yard run to get GCHS inside the 10, and he pushed it in from the 1 for the tying score.

“They made some adjustments that really worked out for them,” said Gautier. “We’ve just got to bounce back next week. We’ve got to hit practice hard. We’ve got to get in the film room and get to work on Terry.”

Fortune smiled on the Rebels after the kickoff. On third-and-1 from the Tiger 30, Duckworth hooked up with Young for what appeared to be a long gainer. But junior Matt Fairley pried the ball out of Young’s grasp at the GC 40, and took the theft 11 yards into Tiger territory.

After Gautier converted a third-and-2 with a 4-yard run, the Rebels surprised the Tigers with a 37-yard touchdown from junior quarterback Wyatt Spidahl to senior Tayshawn King and a 21-14 lead.

But that lead didn’t last long. Keys drew pass interference calls on the first two plays of the Hattiesburg possession, setting the Tigers up at midfield, and this time HHS took to the ground to do its damage.

Junior Haedyn Leverette converted a fourth-and-1 with a 2-yard run, then Ducksworth found senior Brayln Allbritton for 16 yards to the Rebel 6, and Leverette carried it in from there to tie it at 21-21.

Leverette had a productive night for Hattiesburg, rushing 15 times for 71 yards and the first-half score.

George County got the ball to start the second half, and it was a different Tiger defense that came out to meet the Rebels.

GCHS got a break on the first series when Fairley picked up a bad snap on a punt to convert a fourth-and-1 deep in Rebel territory, and Spidahl converted a third down to Gautier on a swing pass for a 20-yard catch-and-run.

However, a high snap resulted in a 10-yard loss, and the drive fizzled out.

“We really needed to get something out of that first drive in the second half,” Causey said. “We had the good return, but we had the holding call that moved us back. It’s hard to overcome those kinds of things.

“We were fortunate enough to get the fourth down on the punt, but we just didn’t get it done.”

And the Tigers were simply too much on offense in the second half, as Young took over the game.

Young had 48-yard catch and a 31-yard reception for a touchdown following the Rebel punt, then after a three-and-out, Ducksworth and Young connected for the backbreaker, an 82-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown on the first play after the punt.

Another drive that went nowhere gave Hattiesburg the ball with eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, and the Tigers milked 6:36 off the clock on a nine-play scoring drive, all runs, with Leverette doing most of the work.

It was Barnes, however, that got the score on a 3-yard run to close out the game.

George County will be back home next week in a key matchup against Terry, then finish the regular on November 6 against Forest Hill in Jackson.

“We’re going to take the positives as much as we can from this one,” Causey said. “So we have to motivate ourselves a little bit.

“But we’ve still got a chance for that third spot if we win next week. We want to have that, because nobody wants to go to Picayune the first round of the playoffs, because they’re the real deal.”