1982-1986

THE MERIDIAN STAR - - -- - -

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- -- 0-10, you expect to be better the next year. Well, that next year is here. ECJC went 0-10 in 1984, although Kilpatrick says the Warriors weren't really an 0-10 team. "We lost some (games) in - - - - - - - Freshman Moses Rivers (6-2 165) has all the tools to be a fin( receiver, according to his coach He starts a t split end. Tharrer, Maddie (5-11, 170),a starter last year, returns for his sophomore season a t flanker. Issac Harris (6-0, 175)will see playing time at wide receiver or tight end. Left guard Butch Brooks (6-1, 230) and tight end Billy McLeod (6-4, 215) a r e the starters return- ing in the offensive line. Ernie McFarland (6-3, 230) from Car- thage, is a returning starter frorr 1983who missed all of last seasol with an injury. Other starters in the line arc right guard Michael Thame: 6-10, 280), left tackle (Darrell Steele (6-3, 225) and right tackle Kendall Sullivan (6-3, 300). All three are freshmen. Thames is from Decatur, a hometown product. Kilpatrick had not totally been pleased with the effort of the defense during fall drills. "We need to be more aggressive," he said. For the most part, he got his wish in the season opener. Using a new five-man front, four q u a r t e r b a c k s a c k s w e r e registered by the line and the Itawamba running game was held in check. The ECJC secon- dary did get a strong test from the passing game led by Mitch Eubank. Freshmen start across the defensive line: Eric Bailey (6-0, 193) and Alviri Henry (6-0, 210) start a t ends. Henry had two sacks against Itawamba. The tackles are Wayne Kennedy (6-1, 260) and Randy Burks (6-3, 2201.Rusty Bagley (6-2, 1901 and Willie Marshall (5-11, 205) of Louisville are the linebackers. Marshall is te lone sophomore of t h - 4 n v f i a a n

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By Al Ruffin The Meridian Star

DECATUR - East Central Junior college head coach A.J. Kilpatrick says when you finish - - -- - the last minute," he said. "We're here to improve our record," added Kikpatrick, who is starting his fourth seasonat ECJC. We're not promoting state c h a m p i o n s h i p s , j u s t improvement. " K i l p a t r i c k , a l o n g w i t h assistants J.C. Arban and Tony Triplett, have 25 lettermen and 10 starters returning to help on improving that record. Offensively, Kilpatrick says the team hasn't looked that bad. The Warriors a r e bascially using the pro set run a year ago and will throw a third of the time from that offense. The key is fin- ding a quarterback. At this time it's Rusty Davis (5-11,180).He started and played a majority of the Warriors 17-16 season opening loss to Itawamba Junior College. However, Davis is being press- ed by Richard Basil (5-11, 175) and Dewain Salter (6-2, 185). Basil played a few series of downs in the season opener. All three quarterbacks a r e freshmen. "We've had good competition at the quarterback spot," said Kilpatrick. Our passing has been pretty good in practice." While the quarterbacksmay be new, the rest of the backfield returns from a year ago. The fullback is Otis Johnson (6-0,205) from Newton. Johnson also handles the punting duties for ECJC. He averaged over 40 yards a punt against Itawamba. He'll be backed by Kirk Rob- bins (5-11, 196) of Louisville. The halfback is Woodrow Longmire (5-5, 168)of Forest. He scored one of the two touchdowns in the season opener. Behind Longmire is sophomore Charles Ray (5-11, 180), who Kilpatrick says will see a good deal of play- ing time.

Experience retuns J lasrae guard and in the secondary. Kilpa trick thinks highly of Michael Groves (6-1, 212) of Car- thag at noseguard. Greg Sanders (5-10,175)and Andrea1Tabb (5-9, 180) return a t the cornerback positions. Billy Ray Walker (5-10, 195) could be a real good strong s a f e t y , s a y s K i l p a t r i c k . Freshman Kelvin Lyons (5-11, 185) opens a t free safety. "We feel the defense will jell a s the season goes on," says Kilpatrick. "A lot of these players a r e freshman and it will take some game experience to bring them together a s a unit." Field goals and extra points are handled by freshman Luke Vaughn. Freshman tight end Carl Porter handles the kickoff duties. Kilpatrick says ECJC's divi- sion. the South divsion, will be tough again this year. "The division is pretty strong and we a r e a very young team. But we've worked hard and I h n n ~ WP rRn m a t ~ ~ r e earlv."