By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director
When Gulfport faces Tupelo for the Class 7A state football championship Saturday night, it’ll mark just the second time ever in program history that the Admirals have played for a Gold Ball since the implementation of a state-wide playoff system in the state
The only other time that happened was 43 years ago this week, on Friday night Dec., 3rd 1982 when the Admirals fell to West Point on a wet, windy and inclement evening at historic Ray Stadium in Meridian.
West Point went unbeaten at 13-0 that year, and captured its first of what is now a state record 13 state titles.
The Green Wave were led that season by tailback Sawn Sykes and fullback Robert Smith, or “Thunder and Lightning” as they were known throughout the state.
In fact, Smith’s 1-yard touchdown plunge with just :36 seconds to play sealed the deal for West Point and put his team up 21-7.

“We got beat by a good football team. They deserve to be champions,” then GHS head coach Tom Freeman said. “We knew they had a good defense. They were very aggressive and did a good job with their defensive game plan.”
Gulfport ended the season at 11-3 overall, a number that was just matched by the current Admirals squad for most total wins in a single season in program history.
West Point took an early 7-0 lead when Green Wave linebacker picked off a pass from GHS quarterback Darren Smith and returned it 23-yards for a score.
But, with just one minute to play before halftime, Smith bounced back and hit Steve Taylor with a 15-yard touchdown toss to make it 7-7 at intermission.
The score culminated a short 33-yard march, which was set in motion after Sykes, who doubled as the West Point punter, was dropped for no gain on a fourth-and-eight situation after he mis-handled the snap.

But Green Wave wingback Lyndon Robertson began a two straight touchdown span that turned the game around with a 37-yard scoring run in the third quarter and ended with Smith’s short scoring plunge in the waning seconds.
Gulfport managed to score one final time with :11 left when Smith hooked up with Byron “Bye-Bye” Barney on a 69-yard scoring strike.
The game was delayed for over 20 minutes with 9:17 left when a lightning strike caused a power outage on the west side of the stadium.

Freeman, who was in his fifth season at the helm of the Admirals, and his team were coming off of a 9-7 upset win over Meridian in the Class AA South State championship game which was played, ironically enough, at M.M. Roberts Stadium on the campus of The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.
The decision was considered perhaps the biggest upset of the season in the state that year, as the Wildcats came in unbeaten at 12-0 and many observers were already planning a showdown between undefeated teams in both West Point and Meridian for all the marbles in the largest classification.