MERIDIAN —
For East Central Community College, the time is now.
Following a 46-21loss to Jones County last week, head coach Brian Anderson and the Warriors are determined to use this season as a building block to the future and hope to capture their first three-win season since 2008. East Central will get that opportunity today at 2 p.m., when they face a winless Mississippi Delta team.
Last week, the Warriors struggled to find much consistency on offense, as injuries have left East Central struggling to put the pieces together.
“We had to flutter again to find in the run game, who exactly could get the job done,” Anderson said. “We threw a few balls in the first half, and had some dropped balls that really prevented us from moving the ball on offense.”
This week, the focus for East Central will be to sustain longer drives on offense. While the Warriors have been limited so far this season, Anderson has been working on short passes and screens to keep the passing game going and hopefully jump-start his running game.
“We have been running a bunch of screens, curls and smash routs, because they run a lot of cover six,” East Central wide receiver Freeman Gray said. “We just got to catch the football to open up the run. If we catch the football, we can get the running game going.”
While the Trojans are 0-6 on the season, Anderson said his team will not take Mississippi Delta lightly and will not look past the game. On top of being big up front on offense, the Trojans offer one of the most athletic quarterbacks the Warriors will see all year in Justin Leavy.
“Those guys have some good players,” Anderson said. “They have been in almost every ballgame they have played. They just are not finding a way in the end to get it done. We don't want to be the one for them to figure it out against, but they got good players.”
Despite the hardships East Central has had to endure this season, Anderson said all of the team goals are still in tact this year. A win today would not only go a long way for this season, but Anderson said it will propel the program into the future as well.
The Warriors are not aiming low when it comes to goals either. One goal Anderson set for the team is to win five games this season. While it would take a win today, as well as wins against Pearl River and Gulf Coast the following weeks, Anderson has his team believing that anything is possible.
“This next win against Delta is important,” Gray said. “We need t win to get back into conference play and get our confidence up.
“I'm very confident that we can win five games. We just got to accomplish our assignment. If everybody on the team, offense, defense and special teams do there job, we can do it.”
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East Central looks to build for future
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