Trojans, Wolfpack hunting first win
Published 5:00 am Wednesday, September 2, 2009
WESSON — The Mississippi Delta Community College Trojans andthe Co-Lin Wolfpack will be hunting the same thing Thursday nightin Stone Stadium…their first victory of the season. Kickoff is 7p.m.
Co-Lin (0-1) lost 27-13 to sixth-ranked East MississippiCommunity College at Wesson last Thursday. The Delta Trojans (0-1)fell 13-12 to Southwest at Moorhead.
Co-Lin head coach Glenn Davis said his Wolves would face alarge, physical team tomorrow night. “Delta is big on both sides ofthe ball. They run pretty good to the ball. Offensively, they havea lot of experience back on the line.”
Quarterbacking the Trojans are Anthony Simpson (6-2, 195, soph.)of Greenville, Jacob Land (6-0, 185, soph.) of Greenwood and MarcusRandle (6-2, 205, fr.) of Tchula. Land is a transfer fromMississippi College.
“(Trojans) are young at quarterback,” said Davis. “They used twoagainst Southwest. They have two good running backs who run theball really hard.”
Charles Ambrose (5-11, 210, soph.), from Ocala, Fla., is Delta’sveteran running back.
On defense, Davis said, “Their defensive front is realstrong.”
Southwest managed 87 yards rushing and 141 yards passing in thecomeback victory.
The Trojans are under the direction of seventh year head coachJay Miller, a Mississippi State University graduate. Miller has anoverall record of 26-28 after going 4-5 last year.
Co-Lin hopes to beef up its rushing attack after gaining just 41yards rushing against EMCC. Freshman quarterback Percy Turner had agood night as he dodged the Lions and completed 20 of 37 passes for215 yards and no interceptions in his first startingassignment.
Wide receiver Carlton Ollie caught 2 touchdown passes fromTurner. For the game, Ollie had 6 catches for 71 yards.
On defense, Co-Lin allowed 258 yards rushing and 220 passing bythe defending North Division champions.
Co-Lin outside linebacker Charles (Bobo) Rancifer accounted for9 solo tackles and 3 assists. Cornerback Dequan Menzie had 9 solostops and 2 assists. Safety Lionel Stokes had 8 solos and 4assists. Cornelius Smith intercepted a pass.
“I thought Bobo played well,” said Davis. “He and Lionel Stokesand Dequan Menzie played extremely well. They really stoodout.”
Asked about Co-Lin’s attack, Davis said, “Offensively, we didn’tdo anything the first half to help ourselves. We played like abunch of rookies.”
Co-Lin was victimized by some big kickoff and punt returns.Davis said that was addressed in practice this week.
“In the kicking game, we didn’t go all out to make a tackle.Hopefully, we corrected that and we will improve on that.”
Davis said he hoped to have linebacker Ronny Magee back inaction tomorrow night. Magee, a sophomore from Mendenhall, wasinjured in a scrimmage at Itawamba three weeks ago.
Wolf Tails: Last year at Moorhead, the Trojans marched to a 14-3victory over Co-Lin as quarterback Johnathan Taylor passed for 2touchdowns. Tyler Fitzgerald’s 29-yard field goal provided Co-Lin’sonly points as the Wolves self-destructed with 6 turnovers,including 4 fumbles.