Boonville, Miss., --Northeast Mississippi Community College's home debut at Tiger Stadium didn't go as planned as the Tigers fell to the Copiah-Lincoln Community College Wolves on a final score of 33-14 on Saturday, September 2 in the season opener.
Northeast (0-1, 0-0) was able to strike first on a 2-yard touchdown run from running back Jay Jones (Horn Lake) at the 11:56 mark in the first quarter to put the Tigers up 7-0 after the Chris Cooper (Madison Central) point after try (PAT).
The Tiger defense was able to keep Copiah-Lincoln's (1-0, 0-0) offense away from the end zone until late in the second quarter when RB Darius Guy plunged in from 4-yards out to knot the score at 7-all after the Nolan Long PAT.
In the second half, Copiah-Lincoln's Guy added another score at the 10:35 mark of the third quarter from 6-yards out to put Co-lin up 14-7 after the PAT by Long. Four minutes later of the same quarter, the Wolfpack added to their lead, with a touchdown pass from quarterback Chandler Rodgers who hit WR Darren Anderson for a 48-yard strike to put the Wolves up 20-7 -- after Northeast's LB Nick Thomason (Muscle Shoals) blocked the PAT.
However, the Tigers responded with a drive of its own with a 14-yard touchdown pass from QB Matt Lipham (Slidell, La.) to WR Xavier Anderson (Orlando, Fla.) to pull Northeast within six, 20-14. But on the ensuing drive by the Wolves – on first down – Colin's back-up quarterback Darren Anderson hooked up with WR Casey Gladney for a 70-yard bomb down the sideline for a score to put the Wolves back on top 27-14 heading into the fourth quarter.
In the last period, Co-lin was able to add to their lead -- cashing in on a short field after a fumble by Northeast receiver Shuntez Smith (Southaven) -- when TE Jamie McCardle eased out in the open field and caught a pass from Anderson and then scampered 27 yards to paydirt to give the Wolves a 33-14 lead with 7:18 left in the contest.
Northeast's top performers on offense was Jones and Lipham. Jones had 81 yards on 16 carries while Lipham threw for 117 yards (16-for-30), one touchdown, and one interception. On defense the Tigers were led by Thomason who finished with 10 total tackles, middle linebacker J.R. White (Tuscumbia, Ala.) added eight stops and one fumble recovery, and safety Brian Walker (Cairo, Ga.) tallied 8 tackles and one pass break-up.
Northeast will be back on the gridiron this weekend on Saturday, September 8 in Ellisville to take on Jones County Junior College (1-0, 0-0) at 2 p.m. Jones defeated Holmes Community College (0-1, 0-0) 10-8 in week one.
Tiger fans can catch the action by tunning in to WNAU AM 1470 in New Albany. Fans can tune in to the live webcast by going to www.wnau1470.com in order to catch all the play-by-play action. A link will also be available at our new athletic website at www.nemccathletics.com.