By Brett Brown

The Northwest Mississippi Community College Rangers started Halloween a few days early by spooking the Northeast Tigers in the regular season finale Oct. 23 in Booneville.

Northwest turned five Northeast turnovers into 28 points en route to blowing out the Tigers 50-28 and claiming their fourth consecutive victory.

The Rangers, 6-3 overall and 5-1 in the MACJC north division, now turn their attention to the state playoffs. Northwest, the north division runner-up, will travel to Perkinston to face south champion Gulf Coast Saturday, Nov. 1. The winner of that contest advances to the state championship game Nov. 8.

The Rangers racked up 304 yards of total offense against Northeast, including 295 yards in the first half. The Tigers, who ended the season 1-8 overall and 0-6 in the north division, managed just 176 total yards.

“ Our kids are really playing hard right now,” said Northwest Head Coach Ricky Woods. “We’ve gotten better in every phase of the game the last few weeks and we hope that carries over into the playoffs.”

Northwest was powered by freshman tailback Tijuan Green of Warner Robins, Ga., who rushed for 85 yards and three touchdowns on just nine attempts.

Ranger freshman quarterback Casey Weston of Prattville, Ala., continued his consistent play by completing 14 of 25 passes for 183 yards and two scores. Weston has thrown 12 touchdown passes in Northwest’s last five games.

The Ranger defense was solid by limiting Northeast to a measly 16 yards rushing. Northwest also recovered five fumbles and registered eight quarterback sacks.

The Rangers struck quickly and led 14-0 after the first six minutes thanks to a three-yard touchdown pass from Weston to freshman receiver Colton Barnett of Horn Lake and a 35-yard blocked punt return for a score by Leroy Diggs of Batesville.

That’s when Northwest went green in the form of Tijuan Green.

Green scored two touchdowns in a two-minute span to put the Rangers in front 28-7. Green darted through the middle of the Tiger defense for a 47-yard scoring run, then followed that up with a four-yard touchdown jaunt.

Northwest built a 44-14 lead at halftime on an eight-yard touchdown run by Green in the second quarter and a nine-yard scoring pass from Weston to freshman receiver Tyson Sims of Southaven. The Rangers also got two points as the result of a safety when Northeast snapped the ball out of the back of the end zone on a punt attempt.

The Tigers scored two quick touchdowns at the beginning of the second half to trim the margin to 44-28, but Northwest freshman linebacker Timothy Kirk of Charleston killed Northeast’s momentum by recovering a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown.

 

MACJC scores from week 9
Northwest	50	Northeast 28	14
Holmes	27	Southwest	12
Gulf Coast	41	Jones County	8
East Central	44	Pearl River	38
Copiah-Lincoln	26	Hinds	12