ELLISVILLE – The 14^th-ranked Jones County Junior College Bobcats absorbed a disappointing 27-22 loss to 18^th-rated Copiah-Lincoln last week.
But JCJC head coach Steve Buckley said the Bobcats could still achieve their goals for the season.
"Everything we want to accomplish is still in front of us," he said. "We control everything. What we have to do is just worry about ourselves and take these games one at a time."
The Bobcats will host Southwest at 7 p.m. Thursday at Bobcat Stadium/Sim Cooley Field. The game will air on www.jcjc.tv with Mark Easley and Chris Robinson on the call.
JCJC is now 3-1 overall and 0-1 in the MACJC South Division. Southwest is 1-3 and 0-1 in league play.
The Bears opened the season with a victory over Coahoma (24-6) and have since lost three straight to Holmes (34-20), Hinds (27-0) and Northeast (55-30).
Buckley said the Bears have been hurt by turnovers this season.
"Southwest is coming in here with a good team," he said. "From a matchup standpoint, they have been turning it over and we don't create turnovers. So, it's kind of a wash there. From a defensive standpoint, they don't give up a bunch of big plays. You have to drive the field on them.
"You can't look at their record. I think they have led in every game they have played, but turnovers have killed them."
The Bears are led on offense by quarterbacks Casey Haygood (6-4, 250) and Neil McLaurin (6-3, 200) and tight end Ravian Pierce (6-4, 230). Pierce is a Mississippi State commit.
Southwest is topped defensively by tackle Duke Dantzler (6-2, 310), end John Hines (6-5, 210) and defensive back Michael Ware (5-11, 177).
Tucker Peavey is in his fourth year as Southwest's head coach. Buckley and Peavey coached together at Petal in the mid-1980s and later at Southern Miss.
"Coach Peavey is probably my best friend in the world and we know a lot about each other and what we do," he said. "It's not one of these games that you enjoy playing because you don't like playing against your friends, but that's part of it."
In last week's loss to Co-Lin, JCJC took a 22-13 lead with just over 11 minutes remaining when safety Jonathan Abram (East Marion) entered the game as the quarterback in the "Bobcat" formation and hit tight end Chancie Tidwell (Clinton) with a 33-yard touchdown pass on a fourth and 3 play.
But Co-Lin came back with a 76-yard, four-play drive for a score and then had a 77-yard, 11-play march and scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown with just 2:22 left.
"We are up by nine points with nine minutes left and you've got to win," Buckley said. "We have to find a way to get it done. Right after the game, I felt our defense was on the field for too many snaps, but they were not. Both teams were in the low 60s in total snaps. They sustained drives at the end and converted third downs where we did not.
"We were equal in possessions and equal in yards. The discouraging thing is that they had 194 yards in the second half and 153 of those yards came on the last two drives."
Offensively, the Bobcats had 333 yards of offense, including 232 rushing yards. Running back Scott Phillips (South Jones) had 130 yards on 15 carries and two touchdowns. Phillips has seven touchdowns on the season, which puts him first in the MACJC and tied for third in the NJCAA.
"I thought from an improvement standpoint, offensively, we stayed in front of the chains most of the night," Buckley said. "The week before we had 14 negative plays and we only had four the other night. I think there was improvement on that and even with penalties.
""We ran the ball well, but one thing we have to do as a staff is give our quarterbacks simple things we can throw and catch. From an offensive standpoint, the thing that we missed is that we did not sustain drives. There were a lot of 'three and outs' but at the same time that had a lot to do with Co-Lin. They are a good football team."
Defensively, linebacker Cannon Gibbs (Northwest Rankin) had nine tackles, three tackles for loss and a 15-yard quarterback sack. Abram had six tackles and one TFL and linebacker Tramond Lofton (Wayne County) had six tackles. Tackle Javon Kinlaw (Charleston, South Carolina) had four tackles and tackle Jordan Beaton (Harrison Central) had two tackles and one TFL, which resulted in a safety. Defensive back Travis Reed (Meridian) had one tackle and two pass breakups and linebacker Derric Hawthorn (Collins) had one tackle and one pass breakup.
JCJC held Co-Lin to only 65 yards rushing, but the Wolves had 255 yards through the air, including some key receptions in the final quarter.
"If you look at the entire game, you had two very evenly matched teams," Buckley said. "The bottom line is they made plays on the last two drives to win the ballgame.
I thought we had opportunities to make stops, but we missed two tackles from two of our good players. Cannon missed one and Jonathan missed and those turned into big plays and moved the chains for first downs.
"It should have been a 3-yard loss on Cannon's play and then we missed a tackle on their sideline and they turned it into a big play (35-yard pass to set up the final touchdown)."
But Buckley praised Gibbs and Abram for their overall play.
"I told (Cannon) last night in front of the team that was probably his best game ever as a football player," he said. "Cannon is our leader on defense. He played well except for that one play.
"You take the big play at the end – Jonathan was in perfect position and just has to make the play. You could not draw it up for better coverage. But their kid made a play and our kid did not. We've got to make those plays and knock the ball down."
Another negative aspect of the game was that JCJC turned the ball over three times with fumbles and did not create a turnover.
"When you cut it and slice it, the end results are turnovers," Buckle said. "We are not creating turnovers and we continue to turn the ball over. We gave up a fumble and they got a field goal out of it on the fumbled punt.
"On Scottie's fumble, we held them to nothing, but it flipped field position. Scottie's run is going to the safety and it's probably going to be a 15 to 18-yard run, but we gave them the ball. We got a sack on third down by Cannon and that was a big play, but they ended up flipping field position on us."
On special teams, punter Taylor Wallace (Jackson Prep) had another solid game, averaging 39.5 yards on eight punts, including four inside the 20-yard line. One of those punts was downed at the 1-yard line and ended up leading to a safety. Wallace is averaging 43.3 yards per punt, which ranks second in the NJCAA.
Buckley said the Bobcats must put the Co-Lin game behind them and get ready to face a solid Southwest team.
"The challenge to our team has been let's have a good week of practice and get ready for Thursday night," he said. "We can't change what happened. I told them after the game that the sun will come up Friday morning and it did. But at the same time, close is not good enough. We played a good team close, but that's not good enough. We've got to win those games."
The Bobcats continue in division play next week with a 6:30 p.m. game on Oct. 6 at East Central.
Southwest travels to Pearl River next week.
 

MACJC standings

SOUTH DIVISION
Team                          Division                     Overall
                                    W        L                      W        L
East Central               2          0                      2          2
Copiah-Lincoln           1          1                      2          2
Hinds                          1          1                      1          3
Miss. Gulf Coast         1          1                      1          3
Pearl River                 1          1                      1          3
Jones County             0          1                      3          1
Southwest                  0          1                      1          3
 
NORTH DIVISION    
Team                          Division                     Overall
                                    W        L                      W        L
Holmes                       2          0                     4          0
Northwest                   2          0                     4          0
East Mississippi          2          0                     3          1
Northeast                    1          1                     3          1
Coahoma                    0          1                     0          4
Itawamba                    0          2                     2          2
Mississippi Delta         0          2                     1          3
 
Last week's results
Copiah-Lincoln 27, Jones County 22
East Central 42, Mississippi Gulf Coast 28
Pearl River 42, Hinds 20
East Mississippi 44, Itawamba 42
Holmes 34, Coahoma 12
Northwest 38, Mississippi Delta 7
Northeast 55, Southwest 30
Thursday's games
Southwest at Jones County, 7 p.m.
East Central at Copiah-Lincoln, 7 p.m.
Hinds at Mississippi Gulf Coast, 7 p.m.
Itawamba at Pearl River, 6 p.m.
Holmes at Northwest, 6:30 p.m.
Coahoma at Northeast, 6:30 p.m.
Mississippi Delta at East Mississippi, 7 p.m.