Divine
intervention steps in against Tigers
Northeast
Sports Information
Northeast
Mississippi Community College’s football team lost a 34-28
heartbreaker in overtime to the East Central Warriors in Decatur
Saturday, October 3.
East Central pulled off some homecoming magic and seemed to get
some help from “higher powers” with two touchdowns coming
off “hail mary” passes as the horn sounded at the end
of the first half and at the end of regulation.
East Central’s
first hail mary touchdown came at the end of the first half to tie
the game at 14-14, and the second came as the horn sounded in the
fourth to put the game at 28-28 setting the stage for overtime.
In the first quarter,
Northeast got on the board first when sophomore running back Jeremy
Cannon (New Albany) punched it in from six yards out at the 5:41
mark for a 7-0 lead after the PAT by Tyler Turner (Horn Lake).
However, at the two-minute
mark, East Central responded with a 35-yard run by quarterback Emmanuel
Taylor knotting the game at 7-7 following Chad Mangum's PAT.
Both teams swapped scores
in the second quarter when Cannon scored on a 5-yard run with 13:33
to play in the first half that gave Northeast a14-7 lead. Nevertheless,
Taylor would answer with the Hail Mary pass from 41 yards out to
running back Dontice Sanders for the score to make it 14-14 at the
half.
Northeast opened the
second half with Cannon scoring his third touchdown on the day by
leaping into the end zone from two yards out pushing the Tigers
lead to 21-14 with 10:47 left in the third.
Northeast’s defense
held East Central scoreless in the third period thanks to the help
of sophomore corner back Darius Carothers (Lafayette) -- who picked
off Taylor with six minutes left for a 6-yard return -- and freshman
defensive back Steve Smith Jr. (Jackson) who capped off a Tigers
goal line stance with his interception that came in the back of
the end zone as the Warriors were threatening to tie the game.
Northeast would add
to its lead in the fourth at the 3:49 mark on another rushing touchdown
from Cannon, this time from 15 yards out giving the Tigers a 28-14
lead.
Cannon accounted for
all of the Tigers points rushing for 221 yards on 33 touches and
four scores.
However, the Warriors
fought back and were able to get a quick score on a 40-yard touchdown
pass from Taylor to running back Jeremy Harvey with 1:29 left in
the game.
Northeast recovered
the ensuing on-side kick by East Central but, the Tigers were able
to run very little time off the clock and turned the ball back over
to the Warriors after a Turner punt with under a minute left in
the game.
East Central took advantage
of their last chance when the Warriors’ second hail mary was
answered on the ensuing drive as the horn sounded at the end of
regulation. The 30-yard connection from Taylor to receiver Ronnie
McMillan tied the ball game at 28-28 after the Mangum PAT, sending
the crowd into frenzy and setting the stage for the overtime period.
In overtime, Northeast
lost the toss and had to put its offense on the field first but
the Tigers were unable to move the ball and would have to settle
for a 31-yard field goal attempt from Turner that was wide left
leaving the Tigers hopes of winning in the hands of the defense.
East Central wasted
no time on its first possession in the extra session scoring on
its first play from scrimmage with Taylor hitting Antonio Hughes
for the 25-yard touchdown pass that ended the game with the Warriors
crowd rushing the field and the Tigers coaches and players standing
in disbelief.
Northeast dropped to
2-4 overall and remains 2-1 in the North Division with the loss
to East Central in Decatur.
Northeast head coach
Ricky Smither and his squad will look to pull off the upset win
this Saturday, in a North Division showdown with the nation’s
twelfth-ranked East Mississippi Lions in Scooba.
Kick-off is set for
2 p.m.
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