By Shawn Wansley
Jones College Sports Information
ELLISVILLE – One of the state's premier rivalries will take place this week.
Jones College hosts Pearl River at 7 p.m. Thursday in the 90th annual "Catfight." The game will air on JCJC.TV, SuperTalk WLAU-FM, 99.3, and SuperTalkLaurel.com with Mark Easley and Luke Johnson on the call.
The Bobcats lead the series, 45-42-2.
Jones head coach Steve Buckley said Pearl River, under first-year head coach Seth Smith, will bring an experienced team to Bobcat Stadium/Sim Cooley Field.
"Here is the surprising thing," he said Monday morning. "With the coaching change and a new regime coming in, they start 13 sophomores. They have eight on defense and five on offense. Anytime you are an older team, you should be a better football team. Coaching junior college for the fifth year, I can tell you the second year makes a big difference in a kid's development.
"That jumped out to me that they are an older football team and when you've got 13 sophomores playing, you are going to be a good football team. They are playing with a lot of effort and a lot of intensity. You can tell that they are believing in what they are doing."
Jones enters the game at 2-1 following a 40-27 victory at Southwest last week. The Wildcats are 1-2 after an open date last week. After losing to defending MACCC and national champion Mississippi Gulf Coast 42-25 and Copiah-Lincoln 27-24, the Wildcats got a 21-0 win over East Central two weeks ago.
"I look for a physical game," Buckley said. "I challenged our kids last night in the team meeting that this will probably be the most physical game of the year thus far. So, we've got to answer the bell. They are going to have a power running game and they are going to stretch the field vertically with some big receivers."
Bobcat defensive coordinator Lytrel Pollard and Wildcat defensive coordinator Ty Trahan were teammates at Southern Miss when Buckley coached there.
"Defensively, Ty Trahan is their defensive coordinator and has always done a great job," he said. "He played for us at Southern Miss. He and Lytrel were actually teammates and played linebacker together. I was the running back coach there for a couple of years. Ty has always done a good job wherever he's been. They are going to be sound and they are going to base out of a four down and mix it up between zone and man. They will change coverages and they do a good job."
In last week's win over the Bears, JC quarterback Quaterius Hawkins (Bastrop, Louisiana) enjoyed a big game. He was 22-of-30 through the air for 308 yards and two touchdowns and also rushed four times for 36 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown run.
"DaeDae played very, very well," Buckley said of Hawkins. "It was just good for him to come back after the Hinds game where he missed some open throws. I thought he was in control and he handled everything from throwing to running to game execution to all of his reads."
Running back Romal Webb (Memphis, Tennessee) rushed 23 times for 167 yards and two touchdowns and running back Paul Hughes II (Forest) had 14 carries for 58 yards and a score. Wide receiver Hershey McLaurin (Collins) had seven catches for 123 yards and a touchdown and wide receiver Bud Tolbert (Water Valley) had three catches for 81 yards and a score.
The Bobcats had 553 yards of total offense, but hurt themselves at times with mistakes.
"We are just making too many silly mistakes that are drive killers," Buckley said. "Offensively we created 17 explosive plays. That's probably the most total number of explosives I've ever had in coaching. But at the same time, we had 12 plays that were drive killers."
On defense, Jones limited the Bears to 13 first downs and 310 yards of total offense. Linebacker Kenderian Dixon (Yazoo County) had eight tackles, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery and tackle Jalen Williams (Tylertown) had six tackles and 1.5 TFLs. Tackle Brodarius Lewis (Prattville, Alabama) had five tackles, two TFLs and a sack and end Jordyn Mahaffey (West Marion) had four tackles, one TFL and one sack.
But Southwest had touchdown passes of 79 and 31 yards and a 62-yard scoring run.
"Defensively, I thought we played very well, except we gave up four explosive plays and you can't do that," Buckley said. "You've got to get them on the ground and you can't give up explosive plays."
The Bobcats also missed two extra points and had a field goal blocked.
"We've got a bunch of young kids in the kicking game and it was raining like crazy the first half," Buckley said. "But there are no excuses. We've got to catch and hold the snap, make the snap good and make the extra point or the field goal. We left five points on the field by missing a field goal and two extra points."
Buckley said his team, featuring 42 newcomers, is still learning how to play and how to close games.
"If you go back and look at it, a win is a win," he said of last week's victory. "I thought our kids were ready to play. But right now, we are too young of a football team to finish. I think that's probably one of the hardest things to do is that you've got to get young kids to understand they have to be focused for four quarters and 60 minutes and finish a ballgame.
"We've got to build on the positives and we've got to correct the negatives. The negatives are just lack of focus and just not finishing, whether it's a drive, a quarter, a half or a game. We've just got to finish."
The Bobcats, along with Pearl River, will be trying to prepare this week while keeping an eye on Hurricane Zeta, which is expected to approach south Mississippi Wednesday evening into Thursday.
"It is what it is," Buckley said. "They've (PRCC) got a turf field and we've got a grass field and I'm sure they will get quality reps every day this week around thundershowers. We've already adjusted our practice schedule. But we will get our days in for practice. Our field will be ready. (Jones College Grounds Superintendent) Brian (Johnson) does a great job. The rain is supposed to be out of here by noon Thursday and it should be a pretty night for football."
The Bobcats are not scheduled to play again until they host Co-Lin for Homecoming at 7 p.m. on Nov. 12.
The Jones at Mississippi Gulf Coast game slated for Nov. 5 has been postponed because of COVID-19 issues at MGCCC. MGCCC paused football operations for two weeks beginning Oct. 26.
Jones, MGCCC and the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) are working together to determine a rescheduled date.
Pearl River hosts Southwest on Nov. 5.
COVID-19
Because of COVID-19, a mask mandate will be enforced at the Jones vs. Pearl River game.
Fans must wear masks to enter the stadium and must wear masks and practice social distancing while inside the premises.
There will be a 25 percent stadium capacity limit.
TICKETS
Gates will open at 5 p.m. Thursday and there will be a limited number of tickets available at the gate for $10 each. There will be no pre-sold tickets. Once 25 percent capacity at the stadium (1,625 fans) has been reached, ticket sales will be cut off.
Fans who purchased season tickets can pick them up at WILL CALL prior to the game. Be prepared to show ID to claim your season pass. Receipt will be provided upon pickup.
In accordance with guidelines established by the MACCC, there will be 160 tickets allotted for the visiting team. Pearl River fans should contact the PRCC athletic department for information on how to obtain those tickets.
HALL OF FAME
This week's contest will be the annual Hall of Fame game.
Former women's basketball coach and athletic director Katie Eaton Herrington will be inducted into the JC Sports Hall of Fame at halftime.
She will become the 52nd member of the prestigious group.