Booneville, Miss. - Northeast Mississippi Community College's football program opens the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) North Division portion of its schedule with a special event this Thursday night.
The Tigers welcome Northwest Mississippi Community College at 6:30 p.m. for their annual Military Appreciation Night. All men and women who currently serve or are veterans of the United States Armed Forces are guests of Northeast and will receive free admittance into Tiger Stadium.
In addition, representatives from the Army will have booths set up around the grounds of the facility with games such as a football toss and pull-up bar for those in attendance to play and win prizes.
Other spectator friendly displays that are set to visit the Booneville campus include an up-armored hummer like those used in combat missions and a machine that allows fans to make their own dog tags that are identical to those that soldiers wear.
Join Jeremy Kennedy, the Voice of the Tigers, at 6:15 p.m. for the NEMCCTV pregame show by visiting www.nemcctv.com. In-game updates are also available on Twitter by searching and following @NEMCCTigers.
Northeast and the Rangers are seeking a fresh start in their league lid lifters after a tough stretch to begin the campaign. Both teams have lost on the road to nationally ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College while Northwest fell to Jones County Junior College and the Tigers could not complete their comeback versus Hinds Community College last week.
Ricky Smither, who is Northeast's seventh year headman, believes that the key for his squad when they meet the Rangers is eliminating their own miscues. The Tigers (0-2) have committed five turnovers in two matchups this season.
"Our battle has been with ourselves," he said. "We've struggled with reads and missed snaps, blocking assignments and tackles. We've got to stop making bonehead mistakes and just compete."
Northeast's offense performed much better against the Eagles and balanced its output with 177 passing and 141 rushing yards. Quarterback Brett Thompson paced the Tigers by completing 50 percent of his attempts and accounting for all of Northeast's yards through the air.
"We think that with each snap Brett is getting a lot better," Smither said. "He mentions every night that we watch film that things are getting a lot slower for him."
Freshman Donta Armstrong has emerged as one of the top targets for Thompson. The Pittsboro native holds team-highs with eight catches, including six versus Hinds one week ago, and 71 total yards.
"Donta is probably one of the hardest workers we've got and in the receiving core we've got some pretty good ones," said Smither. "He's a scrappy guy and we're very proud of the effort he's giving us."
LaVontis Smith has made multiple highlight reel catches as well early into his sophomore year, including an 11-yard snag for a touchdown in the fourth quarter that kept the Tigers within striking distance of the Eagles.
Karsten Miller is the leader of Northwest's offense with 362 yards passing and 24 completions. Wideouts Jalen Gaston and Jamarius Mabry have over 100 yards and nine catches apiece.
Mario Virges guided Northeast with eight tackles against Hinds and presently tops the Tigers with 17 total stops. Jamel Dennis, who was a MACJC All-North Division selection last season as a freshman, is right behind Virges with 16 tackles.
"That's two guys that go to work everyday," Smither said. "We almost have to slow them down each day we go to practice."
Northeast's defense has forced five turnovers in only a pair of outings so far during this campaign. Jacoby Smith heads that effort with a fumble recovery and interception.
Terry Caldwell has accumulated 22 takedowns for the Rangers (0-2) while Malik Hawkins is tied with Chris Williams with a team-best three tackles for loss.
Northwest makes their living in the special teams department. The Rangers are third among all National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) members with 312 kickoff return yards on just 12 attempts.
The Tigers' special teams unit is not too shabby either. Cesar Resendiz leads the country in punts that returners signaled for a fair catch on with nine and is also perfect in two field goal tries.
"Northwest has a good football team. I know it hasn't shown in their first two games, but those kids play hard," said Smither. "We've got our job cut out for us. We have to go out and execute."
Current University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) student-athlete Jeremy Liggins threw three touchdown passes to help Northeast defeat the Rangers 34-21 in Senatobia last year. Northwest, however, has the advantage in the all-time series 34-17-2.