BOONEVILLE, Miss. - The Northeast Mississippi Community College football team could not continue its recent success in season openers.
Northeast lost its annual military appreciation game to visiting East Central Community College by a score of 23-14 on Thursday, August 29 at Tiger Stadium.
The Tigers had started four of the last five seasons with victories dating back to the 2019 campaign. Northeast had also won seven of its previous eight home contests, including all four one year ago.
Twenty total Northeast (0-1) student-athletes between the offensive, defensive and special teams units made their inaugural starts at the collegiate level versus the Warriors.
"A lot of young guys out there today playing against a veteran team," said Tigers head coach Greg Davis. "I thought the effort was admirable. The thing I told them after the game is it starts with self-discipline. We've just got to get regrouped and refocused. For a half, we played really well."
The Tigers took a 14-7 lead into halftime after forcing a pair of East Central turnovers. The first came on the initial play of the Warriors' second possession when Ryan McCall fell upon a fumble that was poked out by Carlous Robinson.
Jeremiah Harrell turned East Central's mistake into the first touchdown of the new year on a four-yard quarterback keeper. Freddy Lopez connected on the point after to give Northeast an early 7-0 advantage.
The Warriors (1-0) pinned the Tigers inside the 20-yard line for their opening drive of the second period. But Northeast marched 13 plays over the next seven minutes, 23 seconds to retake the lead.
Keion Mays capped the possession with a seven-yard scamper across the goal line. His touchdown was setup by a 20-yard pass from Harrell to TJ Brown plus two first down runs by Chris McMillian.
East Central threatened to even things up before the break, but a strip sack by Coby Owens that was recovered by Jordan Jackson on third-and-goal with less than a minute to go preserved the Tigers' advantage at the time.
McCall was solid in his debut for Northeast. The Madison Central High School alumnus tied Justin Davis with a game-high eight tackles plus a sack along with the fumble.
"That was all Carlous. I just saw the ball and picked it up," McCall said. "We just didn't finish the game. We've got a long season ahead. We're going to take it one game at a time and try to go 1-0 next week."
Harrell completed 50-percent of his passing attempts for 72 yards. McMillian topped the Tigers' talented rushers with 17 carries, which was one off his career-best, for 65 yards.
Northeast remains on the Booneville campus to welcome Southwest Mississippi Community College on Thursday, September 5. A 6:30 p.m. kickoff is scheduled for the week two matchup.