Trojans Head To Clarksdale Looking for Win Number One
By Mark H. Stowers
Self-inflicted wounds.
With chances to score against Copiah-Lincoln (2-0) on the road, the Mississippi Delta Community College Trojans (0-2) failed to find the end zone from the red zone several times in the 34-7 loss. Head Coach Tavares Johnson Sr. still sees improvement in his 0-2 Trojan team.
"I'm going to take the same approach every single week regardless of the outcome of the game on Thursday. We are getting better," Coach Johnson said. "We were inside the red zone four times and had touchdowns called back. We moved the ball well and our defense gave us what they had. But we have to stop beating ourselves."
The Trojans had 200 yards of offense but gave up 473 to Co-Lin. Of that total, 68 yards were rushing, an improvement from the five-yard total in week one. Freshman Troy Griffin was 6-of-14 passing for 132 yards and one touchdown. Sophomore Sirr Trotter had two catches for 112 yards. One was a 94-yard reception for a touchdown.
Sophomore Malik Sims led the Trojan defense with 14 total tackles. Freshman Johnathan Nicholson had eight while sophomore Jordan Johnson had six.
"We made strides this week and played much better. It was 20-7 at halftime and we had left touchdowns on the field," he said. "We had an opportunity to come out in the second half and right the ship but we had about seven dropped balls. We made personnel changes with our running game and we've got to get the running game in gear. I've got to speak some things into existence. I'm anxious to apply it on the field."
The Trojans stay on the road this week and face rival Coahoma Community College in Clarksdale. The Tigers took down the Southwest CC Bears last week, 37-32 after getting blown out in week one against East Central, 62-7. The Bears starting quarterback was hurt in the matchup with the Trojans. Coach Johnson said his team has a choice to make.
"We're optimistic. This is not where we want to be. We can be the best 0-2 team in America and come out and right the ship and have a great story for the rest of the year. That's the approach we are taking," he said. "We've got to get of the snide and be a better football team."
Coach Johnson explained the Tigers have a venerable rushing attack and some great receivers for the Trojans to match up against.
"They are an RPO (run-pass option) team. They come down hill with two good backs. The quarterback is good and can put the ball on the dime," he said. "I challenged the guys and said, 'Listen, you've played pretty much your way for the last two ballgames but this week let me be wrong. Let the coaching staff be wrong. We've spent all these hours developing a great game plan and you see that it works. But when it times to execute consistently, we're not doing it."
Game time is set for 6:30 p.m. at James E. Miller Stadium in Clarksdale. To follow all the action of MACCC football and more, check out https://www.macccathletics.com/landing/index.