Goodman, Miss. – Donta Armstrong and Woodrow Prince left everything on the field for the Northeast Mississippi Community College football program during its final game of the 2015 season.
Armstrong and Prince were two of 22 sophomores that made their last appearance for the Tigers during a 56-20 loss to Holmes Community College on Saturday, October 24 at Ras Branch Stadium.
Prince recorded a career-high 11 tackles and tied fellow defensive back Brady Smith for the team lead in that category. He added two break ups against the Bulldogs to end the campaign alongside Brandon Tillman in a stalemate with six total passes defended.
"I was playing for everybody on our whole side," said Prince. "I just came out here and played my game. I worked for everything that I did. I feel good about this year."
Armstrong got Northeast on the scoreboard first with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Bailey Walker. It was his first score of the campaign and fifth of his outstanding tenure in the City of Hospitality.
"I had to come alive and make a big time play," Armstrong said. "Bailey threw a strike. I knew I was going to reach the end zone sooner or later. It was a great feeling."
Holmes took a 14-6 advantage following one quarter after quarterback Dejerric Bryant ran into the end zone from seven yards out and on a D.J. Montgomery touchdown catch.
The Bulldogs (4-5, 3-3) extended their lead to 21-6 just one minute and 30 seconds into the second period when Dre Massey caught a screen pass and raced 69 yards for the score.
The Tigers responded with their longest possession of the afternoon. Tiberias Lampkin's touchdown run capped a 10-play, 62-yard drive that encompassed over five minutes of clock to cut Northeast's deficit to 21-13.
A pair of carries across the goal line by Arthur Turner lifted Holmes ahead 35-13 at the break. The Bulldogs used second half scores on the ground by Matt Fuller and Isaac McGhee to amass their winning margin.
Kendrick Doss accounted for Northeast's lone touchdown after the intermission on a one-yard sneak. It was the team-high eighth rushing score of the season for the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) transfer.
Doss also tallied 115 yards through the air to become the fourth Tiger since 2005 to throw for over 1,000 yards in one year. He joined a trio of standouts that includes former National Football League (NFL) product Bruce Hall, current University of Tennessee at Martin athlete Brett Thompson and Emanuel Francis.
Armstrong notched 109 all-purpose yards between receptions and kickoff returns. He concluded the campaign as the top returner in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) with 725 yards overall.
The 163 rushing yards were the second most this season by Northeast. Lampkin paced that effort with 90 yards on 19 touches to finish the year with 634 yards, which ranks fifth in the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC).
The 79 tackles that the Tigers made was also the second highest amount of the campaign. Demarcus Rogers wrapped up his inaugural season on the Booneville campus with nine stops.
Sophomores Mario Virges and Mackenro Alexander followed Rogers with eight and seven takedowns, respectively. Justin Williams had the most tackles among Northeast's linemen with five.
Jacob Meeks did a nice job pushing Holmes backwards with three punts for 135 yards with one that landed inside the 20-yard line. He is deadlocked for first in the conference with an average of 43.1 yards per boot.
"They never quit and competed well," said Northeast head coach Greg Davis. "We finished out the year with a good group of kids. One thing that I praise the coaching staff about is they really worked with these young men.
"Overall, the effort was there. It was a great group to work with because they were really good on and off the field as far as listening and doing what you ask them to do."
The Tigers compiled a 2-7 record and 1-5 mark inside the MACJC North Division. Northeast enters the offseason just two wins shy of reaching a major milestone with the 200th victory in program history.