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Gulfport fans had reason to be concerned last week when senior quarterback T.Q. Newsome sat out the second half of Friday’s 34-20 win over Biloxi with a sprained ankle, but fear not. The Southern Miss commit will be ready to go when the Admirals play host to Petal in the first round of the Class 6A South State playoffs, according to head coach John Archie. “He’s doing good. He’s fine,” Archie said Tuesday. Gulfport (10-1) faces the difficult task of beating a team twice in the same season after taking down Petal 33-28 at Milner Stadium on Aug. 24. The Panthers got off to a 1-6 start to the season before winning their final four contests to clinch the No. 4 seed in Region 3-6A. Newsome had his arguably best performance of the season against Petal, completing 16 of 25 passes for 353 yards and three touchdowns while running 15 times for 103 yards and a touchdown. Whether Newsome will be limited at all by a sore ankle remains to be seen. But Gulfport has proven that it’s more than a one-player offense. Senior Tionne Frost and junior Tyran Gable give Gulfport good options at running back. Frost has 137 carries for 896 yards and 14 touchdowns. At receiver, Gulfport has three players with 362 yards or more. Junior Deshun Shields has 37 catches for 574 yards and seven touchdowns despite missing a couple of early games and junior Tommie Johnson has 34 catches for 594 yards and six scores. Petal is far from an offensive juggernaut, but it has played strong defense down the stretch with just 20 points allowed over the last three games. That being said, Petal had a soft stretch in the schedule over the final four weeks. The winner will face the victor of Harrison Central-Oak Grove in the next round. My prediction: Gulfport 28, Petal 21. Here’s how I see the rest of Friday night’s playoff games going down:

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WILL GULFPORT’S STAR QB BE READY TO GO IN ROUND 1 VS. PETAL?

PATRICK MAGEE

Sun Herald | 11/7/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Patrick Magee