By Marty Stamper / Special to The Star
The Meridian Star
DECATUR —
DECATUR — A year ago, the East Central Community College Warriors rallied from a two-touchdown deficit to defeat Northeast Mississippi Community College and win their homecoming game.
In Thursday’s rematch, the Tigers made sure they wouldn’t blow another two-touchdown lead as they extended their advantage to four touchdowns in a 34-6 win.
“They’ve got a few really good players, but the bottom line is we didn’t control us,” said ECCC head coach Brian Anderson. “We didn’t handle us. We didn’t execute offensively. We didn’t protect the ball on special teams. We didn’t protect the ball offensively. We had turnovers in our hands defensively and didn’t take them. We just didn’t play well at all.
“We’ve got a lot of young players. We started over and I was very anxious to see how we would respond and we responded like a very young, immature football team. We went out there and didn’t make things happen. We waited on other people to do things. “Everybody in this league has players. If you don’t play well, you’re going to have a hard time.”
Northeast took a 7-0 lead on a 12-yard pass from Clint Wilson to Josh Jarboe just beyond the goal line with 6:20 to go in the first quarter. Wilson and Jarboe hooked up on another 12-yard scoring toss in the left corner of the end zone with 2:01 remaining in the opening period for a 14-0 advantage.
By halftime, Wilson was 16-of-28 passing for 277 yards with Jarboe having
five receptions for 97 yards.
“There’s not a better receiver in this state (than Jarboe) and if you give
any quarterback the time that (Wilson) had, it’s going to be a long night,”
Anderson said.
ECCC closed to within 14-6 on a 24-yard pass from Blake Matherne to Walter Grayson with 12:45 left in the second quarter. The Warriors’ scoring drive
covered 57 yards in seven plays. Jason Loris missed the PAT however, and the
Warriors would not score again.
The Tigers answered on their next possession, covering 59 yards in five
plays with Wilson finding Johnathan Johnson on a 9-yard touchdown pass with 10:30 to go in the half. The drive’s big gain was a 39-yard pass from Wilson
to Jarboe.
Northeast drove 58 yards in five plays and extended its lead to 28-6 when
Wilson found Dante Barksdale open over the middle with 54 seconds left in the half.
Although neither team scored in the third quarter, the Warriors threatened
late in the period as they drove to the Northeast 16, but Matherne fumbled with Northeast’s Johnathan Bates returning the ball 72 yards to the ECCC 6. ECCC fumbled the ball five times with the Tigers recovering four of the Warriors' miscues.
Jamarcus Goodloe scored on the next play to put Northeast up 34-6 with 11:04 left in the game.
ECCC travels to Senatobia next Thursday to take on Northwest Mississippi
Community College.
