http://www.jcjc.cc.ms.us/radionian/dec2001/1.htm
BOBCATS WIN STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
By: Travis Johnson
Sports Co-Editor
What everybody knew before Saturday, November 19, is that the Mississippi Delta is packed full of mosquitoes.
What nobody could have guessed, however, is that the mosquitoes would offer more resistance to the JCJC Bobcat offense than the Mississippi Delta Community College Trojans en route to 475 total yards, 22 points, and the title as Mississippi Junior College Football State Champions.
The final score was 22-6. The Bobcats struggled with the kicking game, missing two field goals, one extra point and firing back a few bad long snaps.
However, the defense snuffed out the Trojan’s candle of hope after holding them to 258 total yards and sacking their quarterback, Berkedius Womack, seven times.
Jones started the game on a good note with a touchback on a kickoff by Nickolas Terracina. Delta then marched down the field on 10 plays only to miss a 32 yard field goal.
The Bobcats were forced to punt on their first possession after earning only one first down.
Terracina could not get a handle on the low snap and had to fall on the ball on the JC 21 yard line, handing the Trojans outstanding field position.
JCJC pushed the MDCC offense back on three consecutive plays, forcing a 49-yard field goal attempt by Jay Jones that split the uprights. The score was 3-0, Delta, with 5:46 to go in the first quarter.
Following the same trend they’ve used all season long, the Bobcats drove from their own 32 to the Delta 15 yard line in 10 plays, settling for a Terracina field goal that set the score dead-even at 3-3 with 2:12 left in the opening period.
Both teams traded three-and-outs. Jones, after a 60-yard punt by Trojan punter Jason Hunter that put them on their own 20, flew to Delta territory on the wings of Alonzo Nix and his 44-yard pass reception from Charles Hales.
A field goal attempt by Terracina from 33 yards out was no good.
The Bobcat “D” forced another three-and-out keyed by a big sack by linebacker Nate Hardage on the next Delta possession. Hunter’s punt wasn’t a great one this time, as it gave JCJC the ball on the Bobcat 48.
Finally, the Bobcats were able to cap off a drive with a touchdown.
Ralph Davis smashed his way into the end zone and capped off a beautiful possession from 2 yards out with 1:07 to go in the half.
A bad snap on the extra point kept holder Will Parker from getting the ball set in time, and he was tackled on the muffed play, keeping the score at 9-3.
The Trojans were determined to get more points on the board before the half ended. Womack completed three passes for a total of 34 yards, putting them on the JC 37.
On a fade pattern to Tavares Gideon with four seconds to go, Jones was whistled for defensive holding which moved the ball within field goal range. Jay Jones booted the 44 yarder, and made the score 9-6 with JCJC up at intermission.
Head coach Parker Dykes was very confident in his team as the only points MDCC had scored were off of Jones miscues.
“We just went in at half-time and I told the kids “You’ve got the game won. Just play as good as you can and score! The defense isn’t going to let them score any more so, offense, let’s get some points.’”
Jones’s offense wasn’t stellar at all on the first possession of the second half, attempting three plays then punting.
Delta took the ball on a fair catch off the punt on their own 34, and literally came out of the gates running, something they did not do much of in the first half.
They ran all the way down to the Bobcat 13 on 10 plays before having a false start penalty and a huge sack by Dermarcus Moody put them back on the visitors’ 28 yard line.
The Trojans lined up for the field goal, snapped the ball, and had it blocked from the side by a diving David Scott, erasing any threat what-so-ever of tying the game at nine apiece.
JCJC took over on its own 43 and drove for a 36 yard field goal which was no good again by Terracina.
Two possessions later, Trojan quarterback Womack dropped back to pass and tried to fire a pass on an out pattern to his receiver.
David Scott pounced on the route and picked the pass off, completely turning the game around in Jones’s favor again with 12:13 to go in the game.
Two plays later, Charles Hales hustled on a quarterback draw that took him in for the 20 yard touchdown run with 11:29 to play. Terracina kicked the extra point perfectly, and put the Bobcats up 16-6.
The Trojan offensive line had trouble blocking anything the entire game, allowing two more sacks by Kennie Covington and Josh Tate on the next possession, spoiling a good drive and forcing them to punt.
Appearing to be buried deep on their 10 yard line, coaching strategy paid off. After pounding with workhorse back Ralph Davis and the dominant Jones offensive line all game long, they brought in Rashard Phillips, more of a slashing and elusive runner.
After a three-yard keeper by Hales, Phillips darted around the left corner on a pitch, tight roped the sideline, and scorched everybody in a black jersey for the impressive 87-yard touchdown run with 6:53 to go in the game. Terracina missed the long extra point (due in part to an excessive celebration penalty), and it put the Bobcats comfortably in the lead 22-6.
In panic, the Delta offense took off to the air again, bringing the ball from their own 20 to the Jones eight on five big pass completions, only to have a pass into the end zone fall incomplete on fourth down.
The Bobcats then ran the ball behind the outstanding and very impressive offensive line from their own 8 to the Delta 3 yard line, killing the clock and securing the state championship.
Coach Eddie Pierce, who played on the JCJC state championship team in 1979, said, “This is the greatest feeling in the world. Nothing compares to this.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: And for a Bobcat fan, there isn’t anything sweeter.
Congratulations and thank you for an outstanding year, players and coaches of the 2001 Mississippi Junior College Athletic Association State Champions, the Jones County Junior College Bobcats!
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Kimmie Lewis
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