After two depressing weeks, the Vicksburg Gators finally turned their frowns upside down.

Joe Johnson threw two touchdown passes, and the Gators’ defense allowed just 63 rushing yards as it routed Lanier 51-12 Friday night. Vicksburg snapped a two-game losing streak as it crossed the 50-point barrier for the first time in two years, and for just the second time since 2004.

“It feels great. It’s homecoming night, there’s going to be the dance later, so it’s just real good to get back in the win column,” said Johnson, who was 5-of-5 passing for 123 yards. “Winning like that, and then we’ve got a big one next week, we’re going to work hard and try to come out and give the same performance we did this week.”

Vicksburg’s defense forced four turnovers, including an interception return for a touchdown by Kiaheam Flowers on the first series of the game, and Antonio D. Brown had two sacks.

Lanier wide receiver Jeremy Sinclair caught four passes for 122 yards, including touchdowns of 34 and 76 yards. The two long scores allowed Lanier to finish with 203 yards of total offense, but the game was never really in doubt.

“Defense wins championships. That’s what we’re in it for,” Vicksburg coach Marcus Rogers said. “They pursued the ball well. They stayed in their gaps. That’s the biggest deal. It looks like we’re blitzing a lot, but we drop out and mix in some zone, and once we do blitz as long as we stay in our gaps and play assignment football, it’ll be successful.”

After Flowers’ early pick-six, Paul Wilson came up with another interception on Lanier’s next series to set the Gators up for another score. Johnson threw a swing pass to Tedarious Brown, who zipped up the sideline, cut back toward the middle at the 20-yard line, and ran into the end zone for a 50-yard touchdown and a 13-0 lead.

Greg Hayden added a field goal on Vicksburg’s next possession to make it 16-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Johnson’s second TD pass, a 21-yarder to Jeff Scott, gave the Gators a 23-6 lead at halftime and then they took the air out of the ball. They only threw three passes in the entire second half — one was a 40-yard touchdown from backup quarterback Devontay Knight to Raheam Moore — and ran 28 times for 198 yards.

Tim Jackson finished with 85 yards on 10 carries, Antonio Brown had 62 yards and a touchdown, and Marlon Hodge and Adrian Burks each ran for a touchdown.

In the first half, the Gators had run 12 times for 36 yards. The second-half performance was one they’ve been looking for most of the season but rarely achieved, and brought even more smiles to the postgame huddle.

“It was amazing. It just made my job easier. I just handed off,” Johnson said with a laugh. “I looked like LSU’s quarterback.”