KILN, Mississippi -- Micah Kelly ran for 168 yards and two touchdowns, Blake Noblin threw for 176 yards and two more scores, and an opportunistic defense added a score of its own as Ocean Springs held off Hancock 39-29 in the Region 4-6A opener for both teams. Kelly set the tone early, taking a lateral pass from Noblin and splitting the Hawk defense for a 64-yard touchdown romp and a 7-0 lead with less than a minute gone by in the game. But Hancock would hardly roll over for the 'Hounds. Although Ocean Springs did a good job slowing down Blake Comeaux and the Hawk running game, holding both well under their per game averages, Hancock still moved the football as the two teams combined for 672 yards and 68 points. "We were doing a pretty good job stopping what they do best," said Greyhound head coach Ryan Ross. "We tried to get the ball to our best athletes as much as we could." Indeed. In addition to his 64-yard touchdown, Kelly would later score on a 15-yard run, Darien Wallace would catch a 28-yard touchdown pass from Noblin, and -- on a play the Greyhounds have been waiting for all season -- Khalil Levy beat the Hancock secondary deep and hauled in a perfectly-thrown pass from Noblin for a 78-yard touchdown. Noblin and his receivers have at times this season struggled to get on the same page, with Noblin often misfiring, or his receivers dropping well-thrown balls. The first half of Friday's game was more of that, with several missed opportunities. But the second half was a different story, as Noblin threw for 136 of his 176 yards and both touchdowns over the final two quarters. "We've been working hard during the week to clean things up," the junior quarterback said. "We went in at halftime and made some adjustments and in the second half things started to happen." Noblin said his TD pass to Wallace was purely improvisational. "That wasn't how that was supposed to work," he said, chuckling, "but it did. I got flushed out of the pocket and I saw his hat coming across, so I tried to put it in the corner." His 78-yard bomb to Levy, Noblin said, "was the game-changer. It got everybody back into the game -- the sideline, fans, everybody." The Greyhound offense was not alone in producing big plays. The defense, despite surrendering 332 total yards, limited Hancock to just 171 rushing yards -- only 49 in the first half -- well under the Hawks' per game average of 225.8. Hancock quarterback Caleb Garcia did throw for 161 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted twice -- the second time by Isaac Gowdy, who weaved his way through the would-be Hancock tacklers for a 55-yard return for a touchdown -- the Greyhounds' final touchdown of the night. Ross had praise for his defensive back, whom he said has been nicknamed "Cheese" by his teammates because he smiles constantly. "I thought he did a great job on their number one receiver," Ross said. "He's a ball-hawk. Cheese understands the game, so when we watch film, he understands what it is he has to shut down and he does a pretty good job of doing that. He's a saavy football player." Ross added he was glad to have Gowdy back after he had moved away from Ocean Springs for a year. Kaylee Foster, back from her whirlwind tour, kicked two field goals for the Greyhounds, but there were some issues with the kicking game, with a missed field goal and missed extra point. Another key for Ocean Springs was the play of outside linebacker Cade Westbrook, who had three sacks of Garcia -- all for huge losses of yardage and all in seemingly critical situations. Ross credited both Westbrook and defensive coordinator Doug Lucas for the increase in pressure on the QB. "Lucas did a great job studying tendencies on them," he said. "Recognizing pass, he would send Cade on basically an outside stunt and then change the covers behind him." Noblin finished the game 12 of 21 for 176 yards and two touchdowns. The lone blemish on his night was a pick-six interception he threw on the 'Hounds first offensive play of the second half when Hancock defender Colby McGough jumped a route and raced 30 yards with the interception. Poor special teams play by Hancock also contributed, as difficulties with the punting game, in particularly, consistently led to good field position for Ocean Springs. The Greyhounds, now 3-2 overall and 1-0 in region play, will return home to face D'Iberville next Friday. Hancock (2-3; 0-1) will travel to St. Martin.