1972-1977

one Ben Jones last year, and he proved he's one of the top coaches in the state - high school, junior college, small college, senior college, whatever the level - when the team captured the North Division title his first time out. Jones was a consistent winner for many years at Fulton High School, turning out senior college prospects almost every year, in addition to winning Tombigbee Conference crowns left and right. It seems that going from prep to juco ball proved no great difficulty for him. One of these two teams' bubble is about to burst, however. They meet Saturday night in Decatur at 7:30. One who enjoys hard-hitting football at its finest, in a game with a lot riding on it, should be there. ALONG THE SPORTSBEAT. .. The Southeastern Conference raised, its season record against outside competition over the weekend to 1&11-2. Nary an SEC team lost to an outside foe although there was one tie, thc Kentucky-Maryland thing . . . Two weeks remain for high schools to decide whether or not to enter the state playoff system for 1976, but the early forecast says no more than about 40 in the entire state will do so. In this district at the most five schools are planning to participate. The problem with the plan, as pointed out in this column when the idea was first revealed, is that it isn't mandatory. But MHSAA folks say making it mandatory isn't possible, so . . Czar Pete Rozelle of the NFL was in New Orleans Sunday watching the Bengals-Saints fiasco. At halftime, Rozelle told this set of ears and others that he doesn't believe Congress could settle the owners-players dispute "because we (the NFL) have been working on the problem for two years and haven't gotten anywhere. I don't see what Congress can do." Rozelle also said that, for now, he has no complaint as far as Superdome replays are concerned. . . Ohio State's Archie Griffin had another 100-yard plus game Saturday, marking the 24th straight game in which to do so. Archie now has well over 4100 yards rushing in his career, and is only the second man in history to go over 4000 yards. The first was Cornell's Ed Marinaro, who thought in 1971 he should have rece~ved the Heisman Trophy over Auburn's Pat Sullivan. Marinaro had 4715 career yards, a total sure to be passed by this Archie gdy . . . - - -

HOW ABOUT the turnaround at East bentral Junior College in Decatur? For the latecomers, head Cuach Ken Pouncey and aide Teeny Coats have the Warriors in a current first place North Division tie with Itawamba's Indians. Both teams are 2-0 at this early point in the conference race, plus 4-0 overall. This is unusual, you might say, for these two schools. The resurgence at Itawamba is in its second year, the Indians having rolled to the North crown a year ago. Actually, they were tied at season's end with East Mississippi, but by virtue of beating EMJC in regular season, the Tribe was declared the entrant into the overall state playoffs. They lost those to Gulf Coast, but getting there was the big thing. Pouncey and Coats haven't wasted 5 m e in reversing their fortunes, either. t a s t year the Warriors were 2-7, the ors st record in the tough Mississippi Junior College Conference. The job performed at both schools is a remarkable one, when you consider the r&ruiting areas. East Central has one of 'he smallest in the league, if not the smallest, while IJC is close. East Central does not have a single .hool in its fivecounty area that is a :mber of the Big Eight Conference, the u ~ l y juco in the state, I believe, holding this distinction. The Warriors come mostly from the non-uptown areas. Most of the schools in the area are Class A or lower, and there --.e only two Class AA schools in the nritory - Louisville and Neshoba Central. SO, YOU KNOW that with the small area, Pouncey and Coats are doing some kind of good job. Before the season began, Pouncey went on record as feeling that prospects were brighter this year than any time lately. He had returnees by the bundle, 21 in all, and "most of them started at one time last year. This has to help." Indeed it has. There have also been some freshmen playing big roles, such a6 Jce Fox of Philadelphia who has .-~med with sophomore Allen Baker to form the league's best running tandems. Because of the record in 1974, and one almost as bad in 1973, the Warriors under league rules were permitted to sign more players from outside the state than most of the other junior colleges. This has also helped immensely - Baker is from Brewton, Ala. awamh came unde he tutelage of -- -