Co-Lin drops River 21-14 for No. 1 spot in division

WESSON – Tenth-ranked Copiah-Lincoln stymied 12th-ranked Pearl River in the second half here Saturday in H.L. Stone Stadium and rallied to a 21-14 come-from-behind Homecoming victory and take over sole possession of first place in the MACJC South Division.The host Wolves remain undefeated at 6-0 overall and 4-0 in division play, while the Wildcats dropped to 4-2 and 3-1.PRCC jumped out to a 14-0 lead midway in the second quarter before CLCC closed the gap to 14-7 only minutes later and bouncing back with 14 unanswered points in the third and fourth periods to ice the victory.The Wolves limited the potent Wildcat offense to a meager 97 yards in the second half – 64 of which came off a dazzling run by freshman Marcquis Smith of Hattiesburg High to the Co-Lin seven. Four plays after Smith''s antics, a 21-yard field goal attempt by Travis Bradley of Pascagoula High was blocked and The River never really threatened again.Ninth-year Wildcat head coach Tim Hatten took much of the blame himself for the setback.”I could''ve done a much, much better job with the play calling…our whole coaching staff could have done a better job. But give them (Co-Lin) credit. They made the plays when they had to…we didn''t,” said Hatten, whose squad entered the game on the coattail of knocking off then-No. 1-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast 30-27 the previous week. “But we''re still in the post-season mix. We''ve just got to rebound from this loss, win, and hope for the best.”Copiah-Lincoln puts its undefeated mark on the line against MGCCC this Saturday in Perkinston, while Pearl River travels to East Mississippi in Scooba.Four punt exchanges opened the game before the Wolves drove 52-yards in seven plays to the Wildcat seven only to see a bad snap KO Justin Danise''s 25-yard field goal attempt.Pearl River quickly cashed in on the miscue. Quarterback Melvin German of Fort Myers, Fla., hit Seth Roberts of Tallahassee, Fla., with a 47-yard completion on first down to the CLCC 32, then Daryl Bourne of Hattiesburg High saw runs of seven and 19 yards, respectively, sandwich an incompletion. After a five-yard catch by Leonard Johnson of North Forrest High moved to the one, Smith plowed in for the game''s opening score two snaps later. Bradley''s extra point made it 7-0 with 2:30 left in the first period.Co-Lin drove 35 yards in six snaps only to see Otha Foster of Varnado, La., kill the Wolves'' retaliatory drive when he picked off quarterback Percy Turner''s pass at his own 38 two plays into the second period.After pair of punt exchanges, the Wildcats cranked up at their own 42. Bourne ran for 11 yards on first down before being dropped for a minus-six an incompletion later. But German then found Snoop Rollins down the middle on a third and 16 for a 54-yard scoring play. Bradley converted and things were 14-0 with 7:09 left in the half.After Damien Burnett returned the ensuing kickoff 17 yards to his own 34, Turner immediately converted a second and 12 with a 30-yard pass play to Burnett before keeping for two on a fourth and one to move things to the 27. Burnett then found Danny Hobbs for a 22-yard completion for the Wolves'' opening score. Danise kicked the PAT to make things 14-7 with 3:17 left in the half.The Wildcats drove to the vistors'' 35 in six snaps on the ensuing possession only to see German throw only his second interception of the season when Santarious Pollard picked him off near the goal line. Two CLCC plays later, the half ended.After The River opened the third quarter with a three and out, Co-Lin managed to tie it up. Starting at its own 48, three straight runs moved things to the Pearl River 34 where Turner hit LaVoyd James with a 34-yard TD strike to convert a third and seven. Danise''s extra point knotted things at 14-14 with 11:40 left in the quarter.After Bourne returned the ensuing kickoff 12 yards to the 20, Smith converted a third and one with his 64-yard up-the-middle jaunt to the seven, only to see Bradley''s field goal attempt blocked.After and exchange of punts, the Wolves drove to the PRCC 10 in nine plays early in the final quarter only to see Delvin Ervin of Oak Grove High grab his fourth interception of the season when he killed the threat by picking off Turner at the four.But PRCC''s relief was short-lived, however, as Wesley Pendleton followed suit with a pick himself at the Wildcat 28 on Pearl River''s first snap. Turner kept for 14 to the 14 on first down, then Mississippi State transfer Montrell Conner took it in on the next play for the go-ahead score. Danise''s PAT made it 21-14 with 9:42 left.The Wildcats made their way to the CLCC 40 on its next possession before punting it away and kicked to their own 43 on their final series of the game before punting for the last time with 3:42 remaining.Co-Lin killed the clock from there on out.PRCC finished the game with 10 first downs – only three in the second half – to CLCC''s 20 and was penalized four time for 40 yards, while the Wolves drew three flags for 25.Pearl River finished the game with 292 yards of total offense (95 rush, 197 pass) to Co-Lin''s 394 (164 rush, 230 pass).Conner led all rushers in the contest with 86 yards on 20 carries, while Turner kept eight time for 63. Smith led The River with 63 yards on four attempts.Roberts led all receivers in the game with 73 yards on four catches, while Rollins had three for 67, and Steve McNair, Jr., five for 21.Turner completed 14 of 27 (51.9 percent) of his throws, finding nine different receivers on the night; while German was 17 of 32 (53.1 percent). Both signal callers threw two interceptions.Other Week Six Action In The MACJCIn other South Division action around the MACJC last week, 13th-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast bombed East Central 42-16 in Perkinston and Hinds spoiled Jones County''s Homecoming with a 27-23 nail biter in Ellisville. In the North, Mississippi Delta splattered Holmes 34-7 in Moorhead for its first win of the year, Northeast Mississippi trimmed defending North and state champ East Mississippi 49-42 in Scooba, and Itawamba nipped Coahoma 27-26 in its Homecoming tilt in Fulton. Seventh-ranked Northwest Mississippi smacked Southwest Mississippi 24-7 in Senatobia in last week''s only inter-divisional match up.This Week In The MACJCOnly one Thursday game is on tap for Week 7 with East Central (1-5, 1-2) hosting Jones County (2-4, 0-3) in Decatur.Six Saturday games are set, including Homecoming games at Holmes, East Mississippi, and Mississippi Gulf Coast. In the North Division, Holmes (0-6, 0-2) hosts Itawamba in Goodman, Northeast Mississippi (4-2, 3-1) hosts Coahoma (2-4, 1-3) in Booneville, and Northwest Mississippi (6-0, 4-0) hosts Mississippi Delta (1-5, 1-2) in Senatobia; while in the South, Hinds (4-2, 1-2) hosts Southwest Mississippi (2-4, 0-4) in Raymond and Mississippi Gulf Coast (5-1, 3-1) hosts Copiah-Lincoln (6-0, 4-0) in Perkinston. In addition, Pearl River (4-2, 3-1) travels to East Mississippi (2-4, 2-2) in Scooba for the week''s only inter-divisional contest.