East Central Community College's Dustin Land hustles toward the sidelines during the first quarter of action against Jones County Junior College on Thursday night at Bailey Stadium in Decatur.

    Don’t gas up the hearse just yet.

    With their backs solidly against the wall as far as making the MACJC state playoffs, the East Central Community College Warriors knocked off Jones County Junior College 24-14 Thursday night to improve to 2-2 in the South Division and 2-5 overall.

    ECCC trails Copiah-Lincoln (4-0), Pearl River (3-1) and Gulf Coast (3-1) for the two playoff berths from the division with Hinds (1-2) also still on life support. However, the Warriors play Copiah-Lincoln next week before closing out with Southwest Mississippi (0-3).

    “We did what we had to do,” said ECCC coach Brian Anderson. “We’ve been plagued by injuries and turnovers this year. I don’t care what our record is, our football team is a bunch of fighters and they showed their character time and time again.”

    The Warriors fell into an immediate hole as Malik Lofton returned the opening kickoff 77 yards for a touchdown to put the Bobcats up 7-0. Jones threatened again, driving 79 yards to the ECCC 6 only to have quarterback Tromarcus Toney fumble the snap on fourth-and-1.

    A 21-yard punt return by Caleb Porzell to the JCJC 21 set the Warriors up for their first touchdown which came three plays later on a 20-yard pass from Dustin Land to Fabian Johnson at the goal line with 13:05 left in the second quarter. Jason Loris added the PAT for a 7-7 tie.

    Land, who started in place of injured quarterback Blake Matherne, finished 12 of 23 passing for 95 yards in his first action on offense since the second game of the season.

    “Dustin Land came in and did a tremendous job of just managing the game and giving us an opportunity to win,” Anderson said. “We had two or three times where we were backed up deep and he moved the ball out and gave us room to punt the football and give us field position again.”

    An interception and 25-yard return by Georgio Grace to the JCJC 15 set the Warriors up for their second touchdown. A 16-yard run by Land around left end gave the Warriors a 14-7 lead after Loris’ kick with 5:04 to go in the half.

    Jones then used a 55-yard kickoff return by Lofton to the ECCC 21 to pull even. Lavoris Powell scored on a 10-yard burst off right tackle three plays later with the PAT by Dylan Sobiesk knotting the battle at 14-14 with 1:45 to go before halftime.

    Other than Lofton’s two long kickoff returns, the Warriors pretty much kept the Bobcats hemmed up. For the night, Jones had 211 total yards with 68 coming on 38 rushes and 143 on an 11-of-20 passing effort by Toney, who also threw two interceptions.

    “Our defense played lights out,” Anderson said. “We played hard and we played fast. We didn’t give up much besides the kickoff returns. We didn’t kill ourself with turnovers.

    “Our kids are still fighting and they’re still believing. They played a good football game.”

    ECCC took a 17-14 lead into halftime on a 31-yard field goal by Loris with 29 seconds left in the half. The Warriors covered 49 yards in eight plays to set up the score. Land completed tosses of 17 yards to Radarius Owens and 12 yards to Johnson on the drive.

    Jones attempted a tying kick on the final play of the half, but Sobiesk’s 50-yard try was blocked.

    The Bobcats reached the ECCC 11 on a 45-yard pass from Toney to Kylan Pollard and continued to the 3 where a fourth-and-2 toss sweep by DeAnthony Pickens was stuffed for a 7-yard loss late in the third quarter.

    With Land injured with 11 minutes to go in the game, Matherne came in and led the Warriors on a 60-yard scoring drive capped by a 1-yard touchdown run around right end by Brandon Willis with 3:42 to go for a 24-14 lead.

    Matherne was 2-of-3 on the drive for 16 yards and picked up a key first down with a 9-yard run.

    Two sacks of Toney gave ECCC the ball back at the JCJC 20 with 1:48 left and the Warriors ran out the clock for the win.

    Jones fell to 2-5 and 0-4 in the division.

    “At this point, when you face adversity, you’ve got to just bow your neck and come out swinging and that’s what we’re doing,” Anderson said. “I’m so proud of them.”