About the only close competition on this night came on the Natchez High track as the Natchez High Bulldog and Vicksburg Gator mascots playfully battled to a stalemate as both sets of cheerleaders held them back.

It wasn’t that close on the field.

The Gator offense behind the running of Caris London, scored 17 points in the first and the Gator defense picked off five Natchez passes and scored two safeties as Vicksburg trounced Natchez 52-6 Friday.

&uot;We just made too many mental mistakes,&uot; said Natchez High head football coach Elbert &uot;Mo&uot; Lyles, whose team fell to 1-2, including a 61-0 loss to Gulfport last week. &uot;But we’ll continue to work. &uot;Hopefully be district time we’ll have all of this behind us.&uot;

The Gator defense held the Bulldogs to 34 rushing yards and 61 yards through the air.

&uot;We were better balanced tonight,&uot; said Vicksburg head coach James Knox, whose team improved to 2-1 after scoring 72 points in its first two games. &uot;Our defense is improving and getting better. We have a lot of inexperience. We have a lot of people who need playing time.&uot;

Vicksburg marched the ball easily down the field on its first possession as London, Tim Hall and Terry Cooper moved the ball 58 yards with London going around end for the final 16. London ran in the conversion for an 8-0 Gator lead with 8:49 remaining. Vicksburg’s Corey Wilkerson then blocked a Natchez punt through the back of the end zone for a 10-0 Gator lead. It only took two more plays to add to the lead as London sailed 44 yards to paydirt. Jonathan Strange added the kick for a 17-0 lead with 5:08 remaining.

Wilkerson recovered a fumble on Natchez’s next possession, but the Bulldog defense held.

Vicksburg’s next score came on a 28-yard pass from Antonio Raney to Cooper. Strange added the kick.

&uot;We worked on our offense all summer,&uot;&160;Knox said. &uot;The kids believe in it. They believe they can score every time they put their hands on the ball.&uot;

Strange then connected on a 41-yard field goal to increase the Gator lead to 27-0. Another blocked punt led to Vicksburg’s final score of the first half as London went in from four yards out with 1:58 remaining. Strange added the kick. Vicksburg’s Kevin Harrison intercepted a Donald Butler pass on Natchez’s first possession of the second half, which led to a 10-yard scoring run by Hall.

Strange’s kick made it 41-0.

An interception by Jim Battle looked to stop a Bulldog drive, but Battle fumbled when hit by Roderick Conner and Natchez’s Bilal Assabor made the recovery.

Another interception was overruled by Vicksburg’s third roughing the passer of the night.

On the next play, Butler passed 20 yards to Edwin Skipper for the Bulldogs only score of the night. The try for two failed. Strange hit a 28-yard field goal early in the final period.

Conner was tackled in his own end zone to move the score to 46-6. Strange hit a 37-yard with 55 seconds remaining and Victor Parker added a 23-yard kick to complete the scoring. Natchez had 36 total yards in the first half.

&uot;We looked at our film of last year’s game and watched Natchez against Gulfport and figured we could put pressure on them,&uot; Knox said. &uot;Natchez has some good athletes, but we out-quicked them tonight.&uot;

Natchez hosts Biloxi Friday.

&uot;We’ve got a good nucleus of kids and we’re not going to drag out heads,&uot;&160;Lyles said. &uot;But we’ve still got a lot of work to do.&uot;