PORT GIBSON — Port Gibson has made a lot of progress in Lynn Lang’s first year as the Blue Waves’ coach but they still have a ways to go in order to beat a perennial playoff team like Hazlehurst.

The Indians, who won the Class 3A state championship in 2006, had two backs run for over 100 yards to beat Port Gibson 14-0 Friday at Blue Waves’ Stadium. The loss drops the Blue Waves to 3-3. They open Region 7-4A play next week at home against Columbia.

Lang felt his offense could’ve been better but was glad to see his defense play well enough to keep his young team in the game against the Indians (5-1).

“We had a chance right before the half and another there in the fourth quarter. Not having my power back in Rudy Wilson hurt us tonight,” said Lang. Wilson, the third leading rusher in the Vicksburg Post area this season with 483 yards, was held out with a deep thigh bruise.

They really could have used Wilson when the Blue Waves faced a first-and-goal from the Indians five with eight minutes to play. The Hazlehurst defense stuffed four straight runs to force a turnover on downs and the Indians’ offense ran out the remaining time with a long 90-yard drive.

“We really needed that power when we had it down there. Our linemen are real young and we really have to go straight ahead to have success. We have to knock people off the ball,” Lang said.

Bad things happened when the Blue Waves tried to pass. Quarterback Joshua Dotson was sacked three times for minus 36 yards, including a 20-yarder that stopped a promising drive to start the third quarter. Dotson finished 2-of-3 passing for 15 yards.

Hazlehurst finished with 290 yards rushing to 94 for the Blue Waves. A quarter of those gains came on the Indians’ second series as Levithan Cain ripped off a 66-yard counter play to the Blue Wave 4. Cornelius Crump scored on the next play. The kick was missed to leave it at 6-0 with 1:07 left in the first quarter.

Following a short punt, the Indians went back to work from the Port Gibson 45. They covered the distance in three plays with Cain scoring on a 13-yard run. Chris Perkins caught a two-point conversion pass from Trederik Williams to make it 14-0 with 9:53 left in the second quarter.

Dotson’s 49-yard kickoff return to open the second half was the Blue Waves’ best play of the game. But he was sacked for a 20-yard loss after two motion flags to kill the drive.

After the Wave defense forced a stoppage on downs, the offense put together its only sustained drive of the game. Dotson completed a pair of passes and a pass interference call gave Port Gibson three first downs. Hulbert then added runs of 12 and 19 yards to advance the ball to the Indians 5. The Indians rose up and dropped the Blue Waves for losses on three of the next four runs.

“I really thought we were passive in spots, but Port Gibson has improved a lot,” Hazlehurst coach Todd McDaniel said. “I really think our focus was somewhere else. Maybe we were thinking about next week’s region opener, because I didn’t think we played very well.”

Levithan Cain ended with 123 yards on 12 carries while Demetrius Cain had 119 on eight. Hulbert led Port Gibson with 54 yards on eight carries.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com