By Mark H. Stowers
Apparently, the Booneville variety of Tiger is a bit more ferocious than the variety found in Clarksdale. Just ask Mississippi Delta Head Coach Tavares Johnson Sr. But he'll also tell you that shooting yourself in the foot against a nationally ranked (#14 NJCAA DI) opponent doesn't do you any favors.
Interceptions, bad snaps on special teams, the defense giving up too many third and long conversions don't lead to wins. MDCC now 1-3 overall and 1-1 MACCC fell to the #14 ranked Northeast Community College Tigers 4-0, 2-0 MACCC on Thursday night, 40-0.
"Defensively, we played in spurts but we're still inconsistent," Coach Johnson said. "Anytime you've got a chance to make a sack or make a tackle and you let the man go or don't wrap up, it's terrible. You've got to look at their third down conversions. Third and long and they get 15 yards on a simple out route or curl route. We're not coming up and tackling. But I'm not a quitter. We're going to keep on working."
One bright spot was the rushing game. Of the Trojans' 192 total offensive yards, 141 were on the ground. Walk-on freshman Davion Alston led the team with 76 yards on 16 carries for a 4.8 per carry average. Sophomore Thalamus Marshall had nine carries for 31 yards while freshman quarterback Troy Griffin had five carries for 29 yards.
"Heck, now that I've got a ground game rolling a little bit, we've got to mix in our play action passes and screen game. We can be more effective and take pressure off," Coach Johnson said. "Here's a kid (Alston) that's a walk-on – a walk-on. I've got a lot of good players and he's outperforming them. I told our coaches we have to do a lot better job of recruiting. We have to beat the bushes and find those guys. I don't care if we have to dog gone go to Canada, we've got to find the ones that fit our program so we can get this thing turned around and play more consistently. I can't live like this. I can't make a mistake as a coach. I'm frustrated by our performance. I thought we had turned a corner."
The passing game was held in check as Griffin and Marshall combined for only 51 yards. Griffin was 8-for-19 for 35 yards and had two interceptions. Marshall was 2-for-7 for 16 yards and one interception. The leading receiver was sophomore Ja'Kell Allen who had five catches for 40 yards.
On the defensive side, freshman Jonathan Nicholson led the team with 10 total tackles while sophomore Jordan Johnson had eight. Sophomore Malik Sims had five total and one interception he returned for 30 yards.
High snaps and low snaps on special teams led to bad punts, over the head of the punter snaps and overall, not delivering the ball quick enough to give the holder and kicker time to do their jobs.
"We've got keep working on that. I think it's a mental thing and staying sharp on the sideline. He's got to snap it between plays and stay warm and stay in tune. I have to do a better job and make sure that happens," Coach Johnson said. "We're going to crack the whip on that. We're going to have a tough practice. I can promise you that."
The Trojans will have a rough week of practice to sharpen the edges of a rough performance. They travel to Fulton to take on the winless Itawamba Community College Indians (0-4 overall and 0-2 MACCC.) But the Indians have had a crushing early schedule with losses to Jones, Mississippi Gulf Coast, Northeast and Northwest.
"You can't take anything for granted in this league. Not the way we're playing," Coach Johnson said. "We have to go out and play. We have to go out and perform. Anybody in this league can beat you on any given night. They've played the top teams in our league so far. They are a good football team and Coach (Travis) Macon does a great job. They run the football. They are going to run the football and we have to hit the line to stop it. If we don't, it's going to be a long night."
Nationally ranked #14 Northeast, #12 Northwest and #6 East Mississippi are all tied at first in the North half of the MACCC. Jones and Hinds are tied for first in the South. MACCC action on Thursday was highlighted by #4 ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast taking down #6 East in Scooba, 42-17. Hinds had a close one in overtime against Pearl River, 24-21. Northwest kept Itawamba winless with a 38-13 win.
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