1982-1986

ECJC hanys defeat Bears, 21-1 4 he Meridian Star Decatur - The East Central Junior College Warriors scored 21 first half points Saturday night 1 and needed every one of them to withstand a furious fourth- quarter rally by the visiting Southwest Junior College Bears to hang on to record a 21-14 Homecoming victory. W a r r i o r s ' c o a c h A. J . Kilpatrick while happy with the win was unhappy with his team's performance. "Our defense played well early in the game but our mistakes have been killing us all year", stated Kilpatrick. "We have been our own worst enemy all year and I'm just happy we won." Bears' coach Larry Kinslow was pleased with his squads se- cond half effort stating, "We didn't do anything in the first half. We came out in the second half and played with intensity and put some points on the scoreboard. I switched quarter- backs in the second half to try to lift the team and luckily it worked." The Warriors received the opening kickoff and were unable to get any points on the board despite driving from their own 28 to the Bear 29. A fourth down pass to a wide open Moses Rivers was overthrown giving the visitors the ball, temporarily. SWJC ran just one play before hlichaer Caston coughed up the ball a t the 33 with Billy Ray Walker recovering for ECJC. The Warriors ground out a s e v e n - p l a y , t h r e e - minute-21-second scoring drive, with Otis Johnson bulling over from the one with 6: 27 showing in the quarter. Luke Vaughn's ex- tra point kick gave the Bears a quick 7-0 lead. The defenses prevailed in the following two possessions by both teams until .Carl Porter of ECJC pounced on a Caston fumble a t the -JYaminr 4L I Bv Phil Wilborn

ECJC signal caller Richa Basil released a 59-yard spiral LU Rivers and hit him in the numbers this time for the score with 7 : 57 remaining in the second quarter. Vaughn's PAT was perfect giving the loaals a 14-0 iead. - The Bears couldn't move the ball again after receiving the kickoff, punted, and the fired up Warriors wanted more points. Basil dove over from the one after driving 65-yards, using eight plays for the score. Vaughn's point after kick was perfect again giving ECJC a 21-0 margin with 1:11 in the half. The third quarter was unevent- 1 ful for both squads as the Bears seemingly solved the Warrior of- fensive edge, but were still unable to mount aqy offense of their own. be It was a t the quarter change that Troy Whittington was in- s e r t ed a t qua r t e rback f o r Southwest and the Bears finally hit pay dirt. Whittington drove the visitors 80-yards using roughing the passer and pass in- terference penalties to put the ball in the endzone. Caston's one- yard plunge did the honors with 7:25 left in the game to cap the 12 play drive. Gerald Giardina add- ed the extra point boot making it 21-7 ECJC. The Warriors ran off just three plays after the kickoff before Darrin Estes intercepted a Basil aerial a t the SWJC 17 with 5:24 showing on the clock. The Bears used just five plays to score another six-pointer, with Denny Hughes on the receiving end of a @-yard strike by Whit- tington. Giardina's kick was good for the PAT that made the score 21-14 with 3:36 remaining in the game. The seemingly dormant War- rior offense suddenly awoke to enable ECJC to grind out first 1 down yardage to effectively'run ' out the remainder of the contest- sending fhe hohecoming crowd home happy with the hard fought 21-14 victory. The 24-1 Warriors host Jones Junior College Saturday, while the 2-6 Bears entertain Pearl R i v e r n e x t w e e k .

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