ELLISVILLE – Head coach Steve Buckley has warned his No. 12 Jones College Bobcats not to overlook the winless Hinds Eagles this week.
 
"The message to the football team this week has been do not even consider what their record has been," Buckley said. "Anybody in this league can beat anybody on any given day. They are a competitive football team and they've got players."
 
The Bobcats travel to Raymond for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff on Thursday at Joe Renfroe Stadium. The game will air on jcbobcats.com/watch with Mark Easley and Chuck Robertson on the call.

Tickets can be purchased online through Hinds' site by clicking here. The price goes up at the gates and it is card only, no cash accepted.
 
The Bobcats are 3-2 overall, 1-1 in the MACCC South Division. 
 
Hinds is 0-5 overall and 0-2 in division play. They have been outscored, 166-30, this season, with losses to Itawamba (10-7), East Mississippi (43-3), Copiah-Lincoln (48-0), Mississippi Delta (23-7) and East Central (42-13).
 
But Buckley says Jones respects Eagle head coach Larry Williams, his staff and players.
 
"Larry Williams can coach football, he's been doing it for a long time and I know his staff can coach," Buckley said. "If anybody thinks Hinds is a bad football team, then they need their head examined. We've played them for eight straight years and it's always a great matchup and going to their place after an open date will be a good football game."
 
The last time the Bobcats played they lost a 35-22 decision at No. 8 Holmes on Sept. 26. The Bobcats dominated the game statistically, piling up 535 yards of total offense to only 190 for Holmes. Jones ran 101 plays from scrimmage, compared to only 47 snaps for Holmes. The Bobcats had 30 first downs, while Holmes only had nine and the Bobcats possessed the ball for 42:25.
 
But the Bobcats committed five turnovers, which led directly to all five Holmes' touchdowns.
 
"The bottom line is you cannot turn the ball over five times and expect to win," Buckley said. "It does not matter if you are playing a team that's 4-0 or 0-4, you cannot turn the ball over five times and expect to win. That's on me as a head coach. We have to take care of the football and understand ball security. It is my job to not get the offense to turn the ball over and I failed at my job and we will have that corrected this week."
 
Even with the miscues, the Bobcats were in position in the fourth quarter to possibly take the lead. But they turned the ball over on downs at the Holmes' 11-yard with over 12 minutes left and turned it over downs at the Holmes' 12 with just over five minutes remaining. The Bobcats had the ball at the Holmes' 15 when the game ended.
 
"We created opportunities to win the game," Buckley said. "The message the entire game was to take it one drive at a time. Let's stay focused and take it one drive at a time because there is plenty of time left in this thing. What they do offensively is going to give you time. In the first quarter, the field position and the penalties absolutely destroyed us and put us behind the chains. That was hard to overcome. But we've got to be able to overcome whatever is dealt to us."
 
The MACCC mandated an open date for all teams last week.
 
Buckley said the Bobcats took advantage of that.
 
"We had three really good days of physical practices," he said. "We felt like we got better as a football team. That's one thing I've harped to the team is that the word 'team' means offense, defense and kicking game. I thought last week we got better as a football team. Now, we've got to take that to Thursday night. 
 
"We need another good week of practice this week, a good walk-through on Wednesday and we need play to play well on Thursday."
 
With only four games left in the season, No. 3 Mississippi Gulf Coast tops the South Division at 2-0. Co-Lin and Pearl River are both 2-1 and Jones and East Central are 1-1. Hinds is 0-2 and Southwest is 0-3.
 
Buckley said each week is basically a playoff game for the remainder of the season.
 
"We control our own destiny – not only us, but there are a lot of teams that control their own destiny right now," he said. "There are not many times in life you can control what happens, but right now we control what happens and we just need to go out and execute and play a good football game this week."
 
The Bobcats will play their only regular season Saturday game next week when host East Central for Homecoming. Kickoff will be at 2 p.m. on Oct. 19 at Bobcat Stadium/Sim Cooley Field.
 
Hinds visits Southwest on Oct. 19.