|
SPORTS INFORMATION Oct. 18, 2007 Wildcats play Bears for pride tonight Last week’s 33-28 loss to Jones KO’ed Pearl River’s post-season playoff hopes and a possible fifth-straight MACJC state title By: Mitch Deaver POPLARVILLE — Thanks to nationally-ranked Jones County, four-time defending MACJC football champion Pearl River will be playing for nothing other than pride when it visits Southwest Mississippi in Summit tonight. The Wildcats, who dropped from fifth to 13th in the latest NJCAA poll via its 33-28 loss to the fifth-ranked Bobcats last Saturday, saw their post-season playoff aspirations vanish. The setback resulted in the first time PRCC missed out on post-season play since 2002 and sixth-year head coach Tim Hatten’s first loss to JCJC. Hatten says it’s gut check time for his team which dropped to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in division play. “We’ll see how much intestinal fortitude we’ve got now,” he said. “We have nothing to play for but pride at this point and we’re going up against a pretty athletic football team that still has a chance to make into the post season. “Going in, I feel good about it. We had an excellent practice on Monday. We just went out there and had fun.” The Wildcats’ four turnovers — two fumbles and two interceptions — in their Jones game proved deadly. “Any time you score 28 points in a game, you should win no matter who you’re playing,” said Hatten, who is now 52-9 overall since arriving on the PRCC campus in 2002. “Plus, the turnover situation played right into their hands and they wound up converting nine of 17 third downs. “Jones even wound up running 75 offensive snaps to our 53, but regardless, we could’ve still won the game.” Pearl River also blocked a field goal, two extra points, and two punts, including one by Frank Newsome III who recovered his block in the end zone for a game-tying TD (14-14) in the last minute of the first half. “We can’t play like we did last week and expect to win over in Summit,” Hatten continued. “They’ve struggled this year, but beat Hinds (21-14) last week and lost to Jones (25-19) the week before off an interception return at the very end.” The Bears, 3-4 overall and 2-2 in division play, opened the year with a 24-21 home loss to now-15th-ranked Itawamba then rebounded with a 12-7 home victory over East Mississippi before arch-rival Copiah-Lincoln posted a 21-0 road shellacking in Wesson to open their division schedule. Southwest followed with a hard-fought 25-21 home win over league rival East Central before losing the non-division foe Mississippi Delta 44-42 in overtime. “Southwest runs around well and has the athletes to give your defense fits,” Hatten said. “We need to play mistake-free.” The Bears passing offense — second-best in the state — averages 210.9 yards a game, compared to the Wildcats’ third-best at 178.3; while Southwest is seventh in the state in total offense (323.6 yards a game) to Pearl River’s 11th-best at 281.9. “We continue to struggle there (offensively),” said Hatten. “With our offensive game, if you can’t throw it successfully, you’re not very good.” Defensively, the Bears are sixth in total defense (262.4 yards a game), including a fourth-best 95.3 yards against the run and a seventh-best 142.5 yards against the pass. The Wildcats, on the other hand, are fourth in total defense (246.6 yards a game), second in pass defense (117 yards a game), and sixth in rushing defense (129.6 yards a game). SMCC boasts the state’s leading passer and receiver in quarterback Walter Mason and wide receiver Johnny Thomas. Mason leads averages 239.2 yards a game and has completed 57.2 percent (107 of 187) of his throws (six interceptions) for 1,435 yards through seven games. Thomas has accounted for 37 of those completions for 533 yards and a second-best 10 touchdowns behind Jones running back Jasper Ducksworth’s 15 TDs. Thomas is second in the state in receptions behind teammate Robert Jordan’s 38 catches. The Wildcat-Bear rivalry This week’s game marks the 66th meeting between the two schools in a rivalry that dates back to 1932 when the Wildcats took a 20-7 victory. Pearl River holds a 51-12-3 win-loss-tie advantage over Southwest. After the inaugural game, the two teams didn’t resume playing until 1937 when PRCC won 27-20. Even though the Bears battled the Wildcats to 0-0, 6-6, and 7-7 deadlocks in 1939, 1950, and 1955, respectively, it wasn’t until 1958 that Southwest won 26-6 to take its first victory over PRCC. In 2000, Pearl River clipped the Bears with a 20-17 upset victory just days after then-Wildcat head coach Keith Daniels died of a brain hemmorrhage. Most football experts were stumped as to how the Wildcats would handle the situation, but what resulted was an emotional win when Jack Byrd, a Picayune High recruit who went on to star at Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) University, booted a 30-yard field goal with 16 seconds left. The Bears had won three straight over the Wildcats prior that year’s victory. Southwest finished its 2000 campaign at 9-3 overall under former head coach Ken Edenfield after losing to Hinds 27-17 in the state championship game. The Bears’ 4-2 division mark that season propelled them into the postseason playoffs and a 46-14 first-round victory over Itawamba. In 2001, Green, Edenfield’s offensive line coach, took over the head coaching duties before relinquishing the job to current head coach Charles Anthony in 2006. PRCC defeated Southwest 36-9 in Poplarville in 2002, then the Wildcats took a 14-6 road victory in 2003, a 38-0 shutout in 2004's national championship season, a 40-7 blowout in 2005, and a 31-0 shutout in last year’s Homecoming game. Last Week Around The MACJC In last Thursday’s North Division action, Northeast Mississippi (1-6, 1-3) got its first win of the year with a 44-23 decisive win over Mississippi Delta (2-5, 1-4) in Booneville and Itawamba (6-1, 4-0) trimmed winless Holmes (0-7, 0-4) 24-17 in Fulton. In the only inter-division game of the week, third-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast (7-0, 4-0) kept its unbeaten status intact with a 27-20 overtime victory over North Division rival Northwest Mississippi (5-2, 4-0) in Perkinston. In other Saturday North Division action, East Mississippi (3-4, 3-2) pounced Coahoma (2-5, 2-3) 42-25 in Scooba, while in the South, Copiah-Lincoln (2-5, 2-3) trimmed East Central (2-5, 0-5) 21-17 in Decatur to spoil the Warriors’ Homecoming and Southwest Mississippi (3-4, 2-2) defeated Hinds (4-3, 2-2) 21-14 in Summit. This Week In The MACJC Next week in the MACJC North Division, two Homecoming outings include Coahoma hosting Northeast Mississippi in Wildcats Over The Airwaves All Pearl River games are broadcast live on WMXI-FM (98.1) in n |