Indians hand Northwest first win of the season, 45-31

Indians hand Northwest first win of the season, 45-31
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com

FULTON, MS – ICC looked to build off last week's win over Holmes Community College when they traveled to Senatobia to take on Northwest Mississippi Community College on Saturday.

Instead, the Indians (1-3, 1-1 MACJC North) saw five turnovers help hand the Rangers (1-3, 1-1 MACJC North) their first win of the season, 45-31, on Homecoming.

"We loss this one as coaches," said Coach Sean Cannon. "I feel like we didn't get the guys ready to play and we let one slip out of our hands. When you don't get big plays and you turn the ball over you're going to get beat everyday."

D'Andre Belton (Rideway, SC) rushed for three first-half touchdowns to help the Indians take a 28-17 lead at the break before 34-yard field by Tyler Jackson (Oxford) put the Indians up 31-17 early in the third quarter.

The Rangers battled back to tie the contest before taking a 38-31 lead on a 15-yard interception return by Treston DeCoud with 9:48 left in the contest.

"We gave up to many big plays in the second half and didn't protect the football," said Cannon. "I thought we had a great first half, but you've got to be able to put together four quarters of solid football to be able to win ballgames in this league."

ICC took a 7-3 lead on a 15-yard scoring run by Belton and went up 14-3 first-quarter lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by Belton before a second 1-yard dive into the end zone by Belton gave the Indians an 11-point halftime advantage.

Belton rushed for 82 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries while passing for 56 yards on three interceptions on 3-of-9 passing. Richard McQuarley (Meridian) continued his stellar freshman campaign by rushing for 165 yards on 28 carries as the Indians had 340 yards of total offense.

Defensively, Quin Tiggs (Tupelo) and Chance McNulty (Jackson) each had an interception while Cartin McBride (Calhoun City) blocked a punt that was scooped up by Tre Bogan (Union) and returned 26 yards for a touchdown.

Justin Crawford returned to the Northwest lineup to rush for 240 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries after quitting the team last week as the Rangers piled up 433 yards of total offense in the victory.

The Indians will have a short week to prepare for the top-ranked East Mississippi Lions (4-0, 2-0 MACJC North) coming to town on Thursday.

"We've got to get ready in three days to take on the number one team in the nation," Cannon commented. "We've got a lot of work to do and a short time to do it, but we've got to put in the work this week because we've got a great football team coming to Fulton and we've got to be ready to play."

The defending NJCAA champions have been in championship form again this season scoring 61.5 points per game while only allowing 9.5 points scored. Last week, the Tigers picked up a 65-7 win over Northeast Mississippi Community College.

Kickoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. at Eaton Field with the broadcast beginning on WAFM 95.7 FM (Amory) and LetsGoICC.com at 6:40 with the Davis Ford Pregame Show.

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