ELLISVILLE – Jones College will play its final non-division game this weekend.
The Bobcats host Holmes for a 2 p.m. kickoff on Saturday at Bobcat Stadium/Sim Cooley Field. The game will air on
jcbobcats.com/watch with Mark Easley and Chuck Robertson on the call.
It will be Homecoming at Jones and the Bobcats will be trying to reverse a negative trend. Jones has lost its last two Homecoming matchups, falling to Mississippi Delta, 36-33, in 2023 and to East Central, 27-7, last year.
Bobcat head coach
Lytrel Pollard knows the history of the past two seasons.
"We have lost the last two years on Homecoming," he said. "We want to enjoy Homecoming, but you can't when you don't win. I've told my kids you need to come out here, take care of business, win the ballgame and that would be a good Homecoming."
The Bobcats, 2-2 overall and 0-2 in the MACCC South Division, have dropped two straight games after opening the season with wins over Mississippi Delta (33-0) and Coahoma (51-20). Two weeks ago, Jones came up just short against No. 4 Mississippi Gulf Coast (28-24), but had a tough go last week at No. 11 Copiah-Lincoln (31-20).
Pollard praised the Wolves for their performance last week.
"You have to give Co-Lin a lot of credit," he said. "I think they beat us on both sides of the ball up front, offensive line wise and defensive line wise. In the secondary, their receivers blocked us pretty good down the field.
"We've got to do a better job. We are working this week diligently to get guys in the right place to make a play, but we've got to run better to the football."
Jones fell behind 7-0 at Co-Lin before tying it up at 7-7 when
Kaiden Smith (Oak Grove) caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from quarterback
Jevarion Glover (Amanda Elzy). But the Wolves got a defensive score on a 47-yard fumble recovery return to take a 14-7 halftime lead.
The Wolves took command in the third quarter, scoring on their first two possessions to take a 28-7 lead. Glover completed a 37-yard touchdown pass to
Zay Roberts (Pompano Beach, Fla.) and got the Bobcats within 28-13 going into the final quarter.
After a Co-Lin field goal, Glover threw his third touchdown pass of the night, a 6-yard toss to
JQ Gray (Oak Grove) to end the scoring with 3:33 left.
Glover completed 23-of-29 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns. Defensively,
Tay James (Mendenhall) led the Bobcats with six tackles. He leads the team with 28 tackles on the season.
Jeremiah Tatum (Columbia),
Dion Barber (Oak Grove) and
Cortland Battee (Florence) each had five stops last week.
Pollard said the Bobcats have emphasized the basics this week and getting the game to the fourth quarter with an opportunity to win.
"This week, the main focus is getting us back to playing the brand of football that we've played the previous three weeks before last week and giving yourselves a chance to win in the fourth quarter," he said. "We did not give ourselves a chance in the fourth quarter last week and that's something we've been harping on this week."
This is the first Saturday afternoon game of the season for Jones, so the normal game-week routine is different. Pollard said that should not be a factor
"We just push the days back and work on certain things leading up to the game," he said. "So instead of doing something on Monday-Tuesday we do it on Wednesday-Thursday. The game is at 2 o'clock and we practice every day at 3:30 so we are on the field and used to that type of environment and heat. We just have to go out there and execute and do what we need to do."
Holmes is 2-2 overall and is in sole possession of first place in the North Division at 2-0.
The Bulldogs dropped their first two games of the year to Southwest (34-6) and Co-Lin (30-13). But they have bounced back to win two straight games over Coahoma (53-14) and Northeast (43-27).
Quarterback Chase Richardson, the MACCC and NJCAA Offensive Player of the Week, had a huge game for the Bulldogs last week in the win over Northeast.
Richardson, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound sophomore from Winona, completed 31-of-47 passes for 413 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed 18 times for 80 yards and a score to account for 493 yards of total offense.
Pollard said slowing down Richardson is a key this week.
"Their quarterback accounted basically for 500 yards with over 400 in the passing game and 80-something in the run game and four TDs," he said. "He's the MACCC Player of the Week. We've got our work cut out trying to handle him. Coach (Marcus) Wood does a good job of coaching those guys and we've got to be ready to play."
Wide receiver D.J. Welch, a 5-foot-9, 165-pound transfer from Alabama A&M, had three receptions for 89 yards for Holmes last week.
Defensively, E.J. Segrest, a 6-foot, 225-pound linebacker from Copiah Academy, led the Bulldogs with 13 tackles last week. Jeremy Atkins, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound defensive back from Marrero, La., had nine tackles and returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown.
All MACCC schools will have an open date next week.
Jones returns to action Oct. 9 for a 7 p.m. game against Hinds.
Holmes visits Mississippi Delta on Oct. 9.
