Football | 9/25/2019 10:40:00 AM

ELLISVILLE – The 17th-ranked Jones College Bobcats will be playing their fourth road game of the season this week.

Jones travels to Summit to face Southwest in a 7 p.m. kickoff on Thursday. The game will air on JCJC.TV, SuperTalk WLAU-FM, 99.3, and SupertalkLaurel.com with Luke Johnson and Chuck Robertson on the call.

The Bobcats enter the game at 2-2 overall, 1-1 in the MACJC South Division. Southwest is 0-4 overall, 0-2 in the division.

Jones is coming off a heartbreaking, 20-14 loss at No. 4 Mississippi Gulf Coast. The Bears dropped a 10-0 decision to No. 16 Hinds last week.

Southwest runs an option oriented offense similar to Holmes, whom the Bobcats defeated 23-7 earlier this season.

But Bobcat head coach Steve Buckley said the Bears have one of the top defenses in the state. 

"You look at them defensively and they are not giving up many points," he said. "They are big and physical and they can run. Their scheme causes you some issues with their 3-down stuff. "Nobody has scored a lot of points against them. Teams that have scored against them have scored late in the game. They have been very consistent defensively."

In addition to Hinds, Southwest has lost 19-13 in overtime to Northeast, 29-10 to No. 3 Northwest and 19-0 to East Central.

Jones defeated Holmes 23-7 earlier this season, but Buckley does not put too much stock in comparing the Bulldogs to the Bears.

"Offensively, they have struggled like a lot of teams in this league have this year," he said. "You are not seeing the point production you've seen over the last few years. But what they do is very dangerous and you have to be assignment sound.

"I don't think it's an advantage because we've played Holmes. They give you the same formations and same looks, but it's different personnel. We have got to be able to defend the triple option."

The Bobcats almost pulled off a comeback victory last week at Perkinston.

They trailed MGCCC 20-0 entering the fourth quarter. But Rakeim Ashford (Choctaw County) blocked a punt to set up a Fred Barnum (Warren Central) to Manny Jones (Amory) 12-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-7 with 13:53 left.

Jones then returned a punt 20 yards to the MGCCC 29-yard line. Ladamian Webb (Opelika, Alabama) would score on a 7-yard run to get the Bobcats within 20-14 with 5:59 to play.

The Bobcats would then start a drive with 4:30 left on its own 41-yard line. Jones drove to a third and 1 at the Bulldogs 7. But after Webb was injured on a run, the Bobcats were called for a substitution infraction (12 men on the field) and would face a third and 6 at the 12. An incomplete pass and a sack ended hopes for the Bobcats.

"If you look for the positives, I thought we overcame a lot of adversity," Buckley said. "The kids kept battling and kept fighting and we made a play in the kicking game that changed the complexion of the game. I tell the kids all the time that a blocked kick changes the game quicker than anything. We got that and got some juice going.

"We just did not get it done at the end. We made a critical mistake with 12 men on the field and at the same time, they had 12 men on the field, but we didn't snap the ball. It's young players not executing. They are not young anymore. They have played four games, so it's time to grow up and execute."

A crucial statistic Buckley pointed to was third down conversions.

MGCCC was 10-of-18 on third downs, while the Bobcats were just 1-of-10.

"The thing defensively we did not do was that we did not get off the field on third down," Buckley said. "I thought we played tremendous football on first and second down, but we did not get off the field on third down. At the same time, we did not convert third downs offensively and that was the difference in the ballgame. We turned it over twice and they turned it over once. You lose the turnover battle, then you usually lose.

"But we overcame a lot of things from an execution standpoint in the first three quarters to put ourselves in a position to win the ballgame at the end. It's very unfortunate we did not get it done at the end because we had everything going our way at that time."

Buckley added that the Bobcats have to execute better and said the freshmen must step up their play the rest of the season.

"It's like I told the players – it goes back to little things. Little things make big things happen and until we consistently do the little things from play one until the last play of the game we are going to find ourselves in a fight at the end of every game. We are playing a lot of players. We are playing a lot of young players and they have to grow up fast. 

"There is not a magic potion or you can't shake a magic wand at them and say 'grow up.'  They have to become accountable and they have got to do the little things and they have got to listen. When they do those things, I think we will be a much better football team."

Some sophomore defensive players had big games last week.

End Chei Hill (Miami, Florida) had 14 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and one quarterback hurry. Linebacker J.D. Rutherford (St. Stanislaus) had nine tackles and linebacker Daylen Gill (Louisville) had six tackles, 3.0 TFLs and one sack. Ashford, a freshman defensive back, had seven tackles and a pass breakup, in addition to the blocked punt.

Statistically, Webb is second in the MACJC and sixth nationally in rushing, averaging 99.5 yards per game. On defense, Gill is first in the MACJC and fifth nationally in TFLs with 9.5 and Hill is third in the state and 10th nationally with 8.5.

Jones will play its Homecoming game next week. The Bobcats host Pearl River at 2 p.m. on Oct. 5 and Southwest visits MGCCC on Oct. 5.

MACJC STANDINGS

SOUTH DIVISION
                                    Division           Overall
East Central                2-0                   3-1
Miss. Gulf Coast         1-0                   4-0
Copiah-Lincoln            1-0                   3-1
Jones College              1-1                   2-2
Hinds                           1-1                   3-1
Pearl River                  0-2                   1-3
Southwest                   0-2                   0-4
 
NORTH DIVISION
                                    Division           Overall
East Mississippi         2-0                   3-1
Northwest                  1-0                   4-0
Holmes                      1-0                   1-3
Northeast                   1-1                   2-2
Itawamba                   1-1                   1-3
Coahoma                   0-2                   1-3
Mississippi Delta        0-2                   0-4
 
Last week's results
Miss. Gulf Coast 20, Jones College 14
East Central 35, Pearl River 0
Hinds 10, Southwest 0
Northwest 19, Copiah-Lincoln 15
East Mississippi 41, Mississippi Delta 23
Itawamba 30, Coahoma 21
Holmes 14, Northeast 6
 
Sept. 26 games
Jones at Southwest, 7 p.m.
Hinds at Pearl River, 6 p.m.
Miss. Gulf Coast at Copiah-Lincoln, 6:30 p.m.
East Central at East Mississippi, 7 p.m.
Northwest at Holmes, 6:30 p.m.
Itawamba at Northeast, 6 p.m.
 
Sept. 28 game
Mississippi Delta at Coahoma, 3 p.m.