DECATUR – No. 10 Jones College scored two touchdowns in its first six plays from scrimmage and went on to handle East Central 33-13 here on a rainy Thursday night at Bailey Stadium.
The victory improves the Bobcats to 3-0 overall, 1-0 in the MACCC South Division. The Warriors drop to 0-3 and 0-1.
Jones had five interceptions on the evening, including a 65-yard touchdown return by
Kenderian Dixon (Yazoo County) on the game's final play.
Ty Rawls (Wetumpka, Ala.),
Hershey McLaurin (Collins),
Lardarius Webb Jr. (Jackson Academy) and
Jaylin Simmons (Jackson Lanier) also had interceptions.
Dixon and
Drew Horton (Madison-Ridgeland Academy) each had nine tackles with
Travor Randle (Greenwood) and
Mike Cockream (Ray Brooks) getting six stops each. Cockream had three tackles for loss and a sack. Randle,
Javeon Jones (Heidelberg) and
Shaheim Carroll (Gautier) each had a sack. Randle also had two tackles for loss and Dixon and Carroll each had 1.5 TFLs. Jones had a TFL and two forced fumbles.
Offensively,
La'Damian Webb (Opelika, Alabama) rushed 13 times for 131 yards and two touchdowns. The NJCAA's leading rusher now has 475 yards and six touchdowns in three games.
Bud Tolbert (Water Valley) had three receptions for 104 yards,
Qua Sanders (West Lowndes) had three catches for 38 yards and
Kendall Coleman (Choctaw County) had three catches for 22 yards. Quarterback
Quaterius Hawkins (Bastrop, Louisiana) was 11-of-26 through the air for 172 yards.
On the Bobcats' opening possession, they went 83 yards in four plays with
La'Damian Webb scoring from two yards out. Webb had a 57-yard run in the drive.
Brody Pierce's (Starkville Academy) extra point made it 7-0 with 10:49 left in the first quarter.
ECCC then put together a lengthy drive and faced a third and goal at the Bobcat 9-yard line. Simmons came up with an interception in the end zone and returned it to his own 10 to end the threat.
On the next play, Hawkins found Tolbert for an 89-yard pass all the way to the Warrior 1-yard line.
La'Damian Webb scored on the next play and Pierce's conversion made it 14-0 with 4:48 left in the opening quarter.
Heavy rains moved in around that time and both teams had to adjust to the conditions.
Jones would drive 52 yards in five plays with Hawkins running in for a touchdown from 10 yards out. The extra point attempt was blocked, but the Bobcats led 20-0 with 11:11 to play in the first half.
The Bobcats took the second half kickoff and moved 47 yards in four plays. On a fourth and 3 at the Warrior 40-yard line, running back
Robert Henry (Lumberton) found a gaping hole up the middle and went unscathed into the end zone for a touchdown. Pierce's PAT gave Jones a 27-0 lead with 12:56 to play in the third quarter.
East Central got on the board when quarterback Gabriel Larry hit John Hilbert for a 9-yard scoring pass to end a 77-yard, 12-play drive. The rush for two failed and the Bobcats led 27-6 with 4:37 remaining in the game.
The Warriors' Deiondre Fox recovered a Bobcat fumble at the Jones 13 with just 36 seconds remaining. Larry would score on a 13-yard keeper on the next play and Jaren Van Winkle's extra point made it 27-13 with 24 seconds to play.
East Central then recovered an onside kick at their own 48.
Three plays later, Larry's pass was picked off by Dixon who ran it back 65 yards for a touchdown. No extra point was attempted.
Jones ended the game with 17 first downs, compared to 20 for East Central. The Bobcats had 217 yards rushing, 174 yards passing and 391 yards of total offense. The Warriors had 96 yards rushing, 208 yards passing and 304 yards of total offense.
The Bobcats travel to Fulton to meet Itawamba for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff on Sept. 23. The game will air on JCJC.TV, WLAU-FM, 99.3 and SuperTalkLaurel.com with Mark Easley and Luke Johnson on the call.
East Central visits Southwest on Sept. 23.
