By Maurice Singleton/Sports Writer

GULFPORT — Senior tailback Ty Keys capped Poplarville’s first three possessions with touchdown carries and added a fourth score to close their first possession of the second half to lead the Hornets to a 40-7 win over West Harrison on Friday night.

Keys led the Hornets’ four-headed monster rushing attack with 109 yards on the night on twelve carries and four touchdowns. His longest run of the night was a 35-yard tackle-breaking run in front of the Poplarville bench on his last touch of the night with just under ten minutes remaining in the third quarter.

That Hornets’ score followed a Poplarville recovery of a West Harrison fumble on their first snap of the second half. The score gave Poplarville a 33-0 lead.

“We were clean, really clean, no penalties,” said Hornets’ head coach Jay Beech. “We like to mix it up, give everybody a lot of touches. We like the spread offense, we just run it.”

And they were successful running the ball. They put up 196 rushing yards in the first half alone, led by Keys with 70 yards, followed by Trac Smith with 60 rushing yards before intermission. Remy Naquin added another 41 yards during that stretch,

Smith closed out the Hornets’ scoring with a 2-yard keeper, which was set up by a 34-yard Kayden Bradford sideline run with just under eight minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Hornets led 40-0 at that point.

Smith also scored on a 15-yard keeper with 35 seconds to go before halftime.

And while the Hurricanes’ defense struggled to stop the potent Hornets’ rushing attack, their offense struggled to get going also as they were held to three first downs in the first half.

“We got a good old fashioned butt whipping,” said West Harrison coach Quincy Patrick. “We hadn’t had one of them in a long time, but we got one. And I don’t like that feeling.

“Offensively, we knew how good they were, and defensively, we knew how good they were,” said Patrick. “We had some missed drives. We had two or three touchdown passes that we dropped. At the very minimum, if not touchdowns, big plays. We fumbled the snap. But they are a good football team. If they’re not playing in Starkville in December, I’ll be surprised. But we’re going to be fine.”

Sophomore Jarheem Reese scored on an 11-yard carry early in the fourth quarter for West Harrison’s only touchdown.

“Great start,” said Beech of his team’s successful start to the season. “That’s a really good team. We were able to execute and get a big lead. Our defense made them do things that they didn’t want to do.

“Our defense played fast and physical, and they weren’t fooled by the Wing-T,” said Beech.

Poplarville (1-0) hosts Stone next Friday, an West Harrison (0-1) hosts Forest.