Football | 10/3/2017 2:18:00 PM

ELLISVILLE – No. 17 Jones County Junior College will go for its fifth straight victory this week.
The Bobcats, 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the MACJC South Division, host East Central, 1-4 and 0-3, at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Bobcat Stadium/Sim Cooley Field. It will be the final Thursday game of the season for JCJC. The game will air on www.jcjc.tv and on the official Jones County Junior College Facebook page on Facebook Live with Mark Easley and Chris Robinson on the call.
JCJC head coach Steve Buckley said to ignore East Central's record – just check the stat sheet of each game they have played.
"They are struggling on the scoreboard at the end of the game, but you look at East Central and there is not a whole lot of difference in them between this year and last year," he said. "They made the playoffs last year.
"(East Central head coach) Ken (Karcher) does a great job with his system and the types of players they recruit. Obviously, his kids buy into it and I told our team don't look at their record. It's very skewed. You look at the box score at the end of each game and their yards and their opponents' yards and it is different than a 1-4 record."
The Bobcats are coming off a 61-20 thrashing of Southwest. JCJC's Fred Peters (Columbia) intercepted a pass and returned it 18 yards for a touchdown on the game's second play to set the tone for the evening.
Later, Bobcat Elijah Rogers (Jackson Callaway) made a hard tackle on a Southwest player on a kickoff return to force a fumble and Jordyn Bowlin (Starkville) returned it for a touchdown.
JCJC held a 58-13 lead late in the second quarter.
"You don't get many of those in a season where everything goes right early," Buckley said. "We had the pick by Fred. He just seems to be in the right place at the right time a lot lately. He has a knack for the football. He made a big play and we jumped up 7-0.
"I thought we played outstanding in the kicking game. Elijah knocked one loose on the kickoff and I don't think it was a case of their returner being careless with the ball. It was just a case of Elijah tackling and putting a helmet on the ball. Jordyn got the scoop and score. Things just went well early in the game."
Peters ended the game with 11 tackles and Bowlin had 8.
"Fred has turned out to be a really good player for us," Buckley said. "He is playing a lot of snaps, maybe too many snaps because Jonathan (Haynes) has been hurt, but hopefully we get Jonathan back this week. Fred does everything we ask him to do defensively. He plays on every special teams we have and does a great job for us."
Offensively, Scott Phillips (South Jones) rushed eight times for 80 yards and two touchdowns, quarterback Detric Hawthorn (Collins) had three carries for 50 yards and a score and DeShawn Smith (Brooksville, Florida) had nine carries for 46 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Chris Weaver (Bay Minette, Alabama) was 12-of-18 for 131 yards and a touchdown through the air.
The Bobcats finished the game with 404 yards of total offense. In the second half with a running clock, JCJC ran 33 plays from scrimmage compared to just five for Southwest.
"Our challenge last week was to stay in front of the chains and I thought we executed really well," Buckley said of the offense. "We had one negative play in the first half, but we overcame that. We wanted to stop the stupid penalties and keep the runs in front of the chains and not have to chase the yardstick."
Buckley was particularly pleased with the kicking game where placekicker Mike Kroeze (Madison Central) had several booming kickoffs, was 8-of-8 on extra points and made a 46-yard field goal and punter Taylor Wallace (Jackson Prep) punted one time for 50 yards.
"I told Mike yesterday (Sunday) in the team meeting in front of everybody the reason we were so successful in the kicking game was because of him," he said. "Michael kicked the ball deep and high this week instead of low line drives that are hard to cover. Our coverage teams in the kicking game were outstanding."
After a season opening loss (47-34) to No. 1 East Mississippi, JCJC has reeled off victories over Mississippi Delta (51-10), Coahoma (33-16), Copiah-Lincoln (35-10) and Southwest (61-20).
East Central's lone win was in week two vs. Northeast (27-20 in double overtime). They have lost to Hinds (49-14), Pearl River (59-40), Mississippi Gulf Coast (48-25) and last week to Copiah-Lincoln (27-24) when the Wolves kicked a field goal with 1:48 to win it.
The Warriors are led by quarterback Mario Asagunla (6-5, 205) of Hillcrest Christian, running back Mikell Daniels (6-2, 208) of Forest and wide receiver Kevontaye Caston (5-9, 185) of Trinity Episcopal) on offense. Leading tacklers on defense are defensive back Keonte' Daniels (5-9, 170) of Noxapater, linebacker Tanner Bullock (5-10, 205) of Houston and defensive back Tre' Young (6-1, 170) of Mobile, Alabama.
 "They have outstanding skill guys and young quarterbacks who are very talented," Buckley said of East Central. "They play extremely hard up front on both sides of the ball. Their linebackers and secondary are aggressive and athletic.
"It's one of those games where you don't read too much into the press and what their record is. They are a very solid football team."
The Warriors have beaten JCJC three straight times, including a 37-24 decision last year in Decatur. Buckley said the Bobcats had a slow start in last year's game and were never able to catch up.
"It will be good to be back home and get our crowd behind us and have some success early," he said. "I went back and looked at last year's game and we turned it over on a pick six on the first drive. We then drove to their 1-yard line, had a first and goal and did not get it in and had to settle for a field goal. They hit two big plays in the passing game, we fell behind quickly and we chased points all night. That's what we have to avoid this week. We don't need a sloppy start."
With only four games remaining in the regular season and the Bobcats currently just ½ game behind division-leading Hinds, Buckley knows his team cannot afford to slip up against the Warriors.
"It's another division game and our last Thursday game," he said. "I told the team I broke our schedule down into three seasons for the regular season: East Mississippi, then our Thursday stretch of five games and we finish up after that with three Saturday games. We just need to go out and play good early this week."
Next week, JCJC travels to Pearl River for a 1 p.m. game on Oct. 14.
East Central visits Hinds on Oct. 12.

MACJC statistics

- JCJC is seventh in total offense (409.4 ypg) and third in total defense (279.6 ypg).
- JCJC is second in scoring offense (42.8 ppg) and sixth in scoring defense (20.6 ppg).
- JCJC is fourth in rushing offense (251.2 ypg) and ninth in passing offense (158.2 ypg).
- JCJC is third in rushing defense (115.8 ypg) and seventh in passing defense (163.8 ypg).
- JCJC is second in the state and eighth in the NJCAA in sacks (24).
- JCJC's Scott Phillips is seventh in rushing offense (87.0 ypg) and fourth in scoring (non-kickers) with 36 points. JCJC's DeShawn Smith is 14^th in rushing (69.8 ypg) and ninth in scoring (non-kickers) with 30 points. Smith is sixth in all-purpose yards (544).
- JCJC's Harry Ballard is fifth in receiving (66.6 ypg).
- JCJC's Wardalis Ducksworth is tied for second in sacks (4). Jordan Beaton, Jordyn Bowlin and Brandon Young are tied for ninth (3 each).
- JCJC's Jordyn Bowlin is first in fumble recoveries (3) and Fred Peters is tied for second (2).
- JCJC's Mike Kroeze is second in scoring (kickers) with 37 points.
- JCJC's Taylor Wallace is first in the state and ninth in the NJCAA in punting (37.2 ypp).
 

MACJC

 

SOUTH DIVISION

                                                Division           Overall
Hinds                                      3-0                   4-0
Jones County                         2-0                   4-1
Miss. Gulf Coast                     2-1                   3-2
Pearl River                             1-1                   2-3
Copiah-Lincoln                       1-2                   3-2
Southwest                               0-2                   0-5
East Central                            0-3                   1-4
 

NORTH DIVISION

                                                Division           Overall
East Mississippi                       3-0                   5-0
Northwest                                2-1                   3-1
Holmes                                    2-1                   4-1
Itawamba                                 1-1                   2-3
Northeast                                 1-1                   2-3
Coahoma                                 0-2                   1-4
Mississippi Delta                      0-3                   0-5
 
 
Last week's results
Jones County 61, Southwest 20
Copiah-Lincoln 27, East Central 24
Hinds 28, Mississippi Gulf Coast 21
Northwest 33, Holmes 13
East Mississippi 45, Mississippi Delta 7
Northeast 27, Coahoma 10
Itawamba 38, Pearl River 36
Thursday's games
Coahoma at Northwest, 6:30 p.m.
East Central at Jones County, 7 p.m.
Hinds at Copiah-Lincoln, 7 p.m.
Holmes at East Mississippi, 7 p.m.
Northeast at Itawamba, 7 p.m.
Mississippi Delta at Mississippi Gulf Coast, 7 p.m.
Saturday's game
Pearl River at Southwest, 5 p.m.