By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

STARKVILLE — Gulfport started the season off at 1-2.

Fourteen weeks and one day later, the Admirals walked off the playing field here at Davis-Wade Stadium on the campus of Mississippi State carrying the first state championship trophy in program history.

Gulfport stunned the prep football world in the state of Mississippi with a thrilling 21-20 win over defending state champion Tupelo Saturday night. Trailing 20-14, GHS quarterback Parker Nettles tossed a jump ball into a crowd of players into the end zone from 34-yards out and his wide out and teammate Mylan Stubbs came down with it as the final horn sounded after two Tupelo defenders tipped the ball.

Admiral place-kicker Carter Platt, who missed a short field goal attempt from earlier in the period from basically the same distance, then trotted on the field and calmly booted the game-winning extra point as Gulfport completed not only a bounce back season to take the Gold Ball but a furious comeback in the final seconds of the game as well.

“Who would have thought it,” third-year GHS head coach Blke Pennock said, amidst a raucous celebration. “I know after our second loss to Petal in Week three of the season, I would not have guessed this, but I think it’s been chronicled. I just love these players, love this community, love this city, and I was really glad that this is what I envisioned when I came here.”

Tupelo took its first lead of the game with just :27 seconds left, on a 4-yard touchdown plunge by J.J. Hill. But Nettles, in his first and only season with the Admirals after transferring in from a private school in Louisiana, quickly and collectedly moved Gulfport right down the field for the historic win.

“We told them to bat it down, we batted it down right to him. He was in the right place at the right time, fell in his lap,” Tupelo head coach Ty Hardin said.

It marked the 11 straight win for the Admirals, who finish 12-2 overall and with a new program record for most wins in a season.

“We do it every single Thursday,” Pennock added. “We have plays we run to get down there, then we have the deep out that we run, then we have the rebound play that we run. And we literally talk to them about boxing out and being ready for the ricochet. Does it ever work? Usually not, but it did at the right time.”

Besides the climactic and chaotic ending, he rest of the game was basically a battle between Hill, the two-time and reigning “Class 7A Mr. Football” in the state, and Gulfport senior standout running back Cooper Crosby.

Both Mississippi State signees ran for two touchdowns, with the pair of Crosby putting the Admirals up 14-7 at halftime. He dominated the Golden Wave throughout the first half, and finished with 167 yards on 26 carries in his final game at GHS to earn the Most Valuable Player award in the game.

Hill’s second scoring run came after a blocked punt from Tupelo’s Kaiden Buchanan with just less than two minutes to play. But Tupelo’s Hopson Daughdrill missed the extra point setting the stage for a furious final :27 seconds.

Nettles finished the game with 228 yards passing and the one score, the most important touchdown toss in his career so far.

“It’s a game you’re supposed to win right there,” Hardin, whose team finishes at 13-2, concluded. “Worst feeling ever. (Lesson is) life sucks, that sucked right there. You’ve got to be a big boy and grow up the next day.”