Football | 11/2/2017 12:52:00 PM
ELLISVILLE – Where else would you rather be on Saturday than Bobcat Stadium/Sim Cooley Field?
The No. 6 Jones County Junior College Bobcats (8-1) will host the No.3 East Mississippi Lions (8-1) at 1 p.m. in an MACJC semifinal game. The contest will air on
www.jcjc.tv with
Mark Easley and
Ed Smith on the call.
The Bobcats' only loss of the season came in the season opener on Aug. 31 at East Mississippi. The Bobcats led 28-14 early in the third quarter, but EMCC rallied to win, 47-34.
The statistics suggest another high-scoring game will be played this weekend.
EMCC leads the MACJC and NJCAA in scoring, averaging 50.9 points per game. The Bobcats are second in the MACJC and fifth in scoring, averaging 43.4 points per game.
JCJC head coach
Steve Buckley said both teams have improved since that opening contest.
"A lot of things have changed for both teams in the last nine weeks ago," he said. "Hopefully, we've gotten better and I'm sure they have gotten better. It's that time of the year. It's time to play it off and that's why they call it playoffs.
"The best team will win and move on and the other team will pack it up and be done for the year. I am excited that we are in it and I'm excited for another opportunity. We have come a long way in two years and we just want to keep playing."
This will be only JCJC's third home playoff appearance in 15 years. The Bobcats hosted the MACJC championship game and lost 7-0 to Holmes in 2002 (the final game at Bush-Young Stadium) and defeated Itawamba 49-21 in the opening round in 2013.
The Bobcats have won eight straight games since losing to the Lions. Buckley said with each win during that streak, the next game has become even more important.
"The better you get, the bigger the next game becomes and that has kind of been the message to our team for the last three or four weeks," he said. "The better we become as a football team, the bigger the next stage is going to be.
"I think we have prepared our kids for where we are right now. I know we will play hard.'
At Scooba two months ago, there were plenty of big plays by both teams.
JCJC quarterback Detric Hawthorn (Collins) threw for 179 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 27 yards. Quarterback Chris Weaver (Bay Minette, Alabama) threw for 128 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 60 yards.
Wide receiver Harry Ballard (Florissant, Missouri) had two receptions for 129 yards and two scores. Running back Scott Phillips (South Jones) rushed 19 times for 91 yards and a touchdown and wide receiver Kendall Parham (Oak Grove) had seven catches for 58 yards.
Safety Deontai Williams (Jacksonville, Florida) had 11 tackles and linebacker Brad Zaffram (Buffalo, New York) had nine stops. Defensive backs Tyrek Moody (Petal) and Derric Hawthorn (Collins) had pass interceptions.
Jones had 21 first downs, 201 yards rushing and 307 yards passing. The Bobcats had 79 snaps for 506 yards.
East Mississippi had 26 first downs, 148 yards rushing and 418 yards passing. The Lions ran 83 plays for 566 yards.
JCJC took a 34-21 lead with 5:37 left in the third quarter when Diondre Champaigne (Labson, South Carolina) caught a 9-yard touchdown pass. But the Lions blocked the extra point and ran it back for a two-point conversion.
EMCC would then score the final 24 points of the game.
"There have been so many plays since that game I can't really remember what all happened," Buckley said. "I guess I'm getting old. We played well early and I know we played hard like we do every week.
"But I know we will have to have a great effort again this week."
The Lions are led on offense by freshman quarterback Lindsay Scott, Jr. (5-11, 210), an LSU transfer from Zachary, Louisiana, along with running back Tyrell Price (6-0, 220), a sophomore from Lafayette and receiver Kirk Merritt (6-0, 210), a transfer from Oregon and Texas A&M.
On defense, EMCC is led by linebacker Ty'Ree Evans (6-2, 210) of Wayne County, linebacker Emanuel Bridges (6-2, 225) of Newnan, Georgia, back Denzel Bonner (6-2, 205) of Wayne County and back Duke Upshaw (6-0, 185) of Baldwyn.
Buckley knows the Lions are talented, but he said the entire MACJC is strong and provides a test each week.
"You look at this league from top to bottom and there is not a weakness," he said. "People just don't understand that it's hard just to win a football game. People take wins for granted sometimes."
The Lions are the defending state champions and have won it five times in the last eight years. They won NJCAA national titles in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
Since the loss to the Lions, the Bobcats have reeled off eight straight wins.
JCJC owns victories over Mississippi Delta (51-10), Coahoma (33-16), Copiah-Lincoln (35-10), Southwest (61-20), East Central (49-7), Pearl River (52-31), Hinds (41-36) and Mississippi Gulf Coast (38-24).
The Lions opened the season with wins over JCJC, MGCCC (49-10), Northeast (59-0), Itawamba (48-24), Mississippi Delta (45-7) and Holmes (49-3) before losing to No. 4 Northwest, 61-38. Dating back to last season, that snapped a 17-game winning streak. They have won their last two games over Coahoma (72-7) and Hinds (51-41).
The Bobcats came out last week vs. MGCCC and drove 80 yards in 12 plays for a touchdown on its first drive. They also took the second half kickoff and went 79 yards in 14 plays for a score.
"I thought we were really prepared to play," Buckley said. "The kids were focused and they understood it was very important for us to get to 8-1. I thought we started fast on offense. It was not a 'fast' drive, but we ate up a lot of time. That was one of the things we did offensively – we controlled the clock. We ran 86 plays to their 64 plays, which was huge to get our defense off the field."
Phillips rushed 31 times for 154 yards and three touchdowns, while sophomore DeShawn Smith (Brooksville, Florida) carried 17 times for 138 yards and rushed for two touchdowns. Wide receiver Kendall Parham (Oak Grove) had eight catches for 80 yards.
Buckley praised the offensive line and OL coach
Grant Garner for their work not only in the MGCCC contest, but for the whole season.
"We ran the ball very effectively," he said. "Grant does a great job with the offensive line. Our philosophy is to get a hat on a hat and recruit good backs. When you get a hat on a hat and you've got good backs, positive things usually happen. They go unnoticed a lot, but the success we have in the running game is all predicated by the offensive line and tight ends blocking."
On defense, the Bobcats were solid, but did give up a few big plays.
"We missed tackles early," Buckley said. "We gave up three explosive plays off of missed tackles and (cornerback) Travis (Reed) got beat deep in man coverage, which is going to happen. Travis played well, but as much man coverage as we play – I get it and I understand it. Play the next play is our philosophy. We missed those tackles early, but I thought we settled down and we played very sound defensively."
In the kicking game, punter Taylor Wallace (Jackson Prep) had another excellent day. He punted seven times (most of those into the wind) for a 38.0-yard average and allowed few return yards.
"Taylor's numbers maybe aren't what they were last year, but he is so effective for us," Buckley said. "We talk to the offense every week about this. We tell them that punting is a part of our offense. We are not afraid to punt. Taylor did a nice job of flipping the field twice for us and he was punting into the wind."
In Saturday's other semifinal game, No. 12 Hinds travels to No. 4 Northwest at 2 p.m. game.
The two semifinal winners will meet Nov. 11 for the state championship. If Northwest wins this weekend, the title game will be at Senatobia. If JCJC wins this weekend and Hinds beats Northwest, the Bobcats will host the state championship game.
But the Bobcats must get by a talented East Mississippi squad first.
Buckley said anyone who wants to see quality football should be at Bobcat Stadium/Sim Cooley Field this weekend.
"It's great to be playing at home," he said. "I hope people from south Mississippi will come out. If they want to see a good brand of football, this will be a great opportunity. I hope it's a beautiful day."
MACJC statistics
- JCJC is fourth in total offense (451.9 ypg) and third in total defense (334.3 ypg).
- JCJC is second in scoring offense (43.8 ppg) and fourth in scoring defense (22.3 ppg).
- JCJC is third in rushing offense (269.1 ypg) and fifth in passing offense (182.8 ypg).
- JCJC is fourth in rushing defense (168.6 ypg) and sixth in passing defense (165.8 ypg).
- JCJC is second the state and 10th in the NJCAA in sacks (35).
- JCJC leads the state and is tied for third in the nation in defensive touchdowns (5).
- JCJC's Scott Phillips is fourth in rushing offense (108.3 ypg) and fourth in scoring (non-kickers) with 72 points. JCJC's DeShawn Smith is 10
th in rushing (78.2 ypg) and ninth in scoring (non-kickers) with 66 points. Smith is sixth in all-purpose yards (126.6).
- JCJC's Kendall Parham is fourth in receptions (39) and ninth in yards receiving (56.8 ypg) and Harry Ballard is 17
th in yards receiving (39.9 ypg).
- JCJC's Wardalis Ducksworth, Brandon Young and Jordan Beaton are tied for third in sacks (5). Jordyn Bowlin is tied for 19
th (3).
- JCJC's Brandon Young is tied for sixth in tackles for loss (10) and Dashawn Crawford is tied for 11
th (9).
- JCJC's Jordyn Bowlin is tied for first in fumble recoveries (3). Fred Peters, Derric Hawthorn and Davis Harrison are tied for sixth (2).
- JCJC's Mike Kroeze is second in scoring (kickers) with 73 points.
- JCJC's Taylor Wallace leads the state and is 12th in the NJCAA in punting (38.3 ypp).
MACJC
SOUTH DIVISION
Division Overall
Jones County* 6-0 8-1
Hinds** 5-1 6-2
Pearl River 4-2 5-4
Miss. Gulf Coast 3-3 5-4
Copiah-Lincoln 2-4 4-5
Southwest 1-5 1-8
East Central 0-6 1-8
NORTH DIVISION
Division Overall
Northwest* 5-1 7-1
East Mississippi** 5-1 8-1
Itawamba 5-1 6-3
Holmes 3-3 6-3
Northeast 2-4 3-6
Coahoma 1-5 2-7
Mississippi Delta 0-6 0-9
*-clinched division top spot
**-clinched playoff berth
Last week's results
Jones County 38, Mississippi Gulf Coast 24
Pearl River 40, Copiah-Lincoln 21
Southwest 38, East Central 34
Northwest 32, Northeast 0
Coahoma 40, Mississippi Delta 0
Itawamba 61, Holmes 16
East Mississippi 51, Hinds 41
Saturday's games
MACJC PLAYOFFS
East Mississippi at Jones County, 1 p.m.
Hinds at Northwest, 2 p.m.
November 11 game
MACJC championship game, site and time TBD
