1994

\.JEEK OF C) - ~-Cf tt- ECCC's nightmare continues

• Twilight Zone claims Warriors as its victims. By MARTY STAMPER Democrat sports editOr You wouldn't think there would be any way a team that was 0-3 could possibly be overconfident, but East Central Community College head football coach Reese Bridgman thought that was just the cause of his team's 28-12 loss to Gulf Coast last Thursday in Decatur. With their worst performance to date of the 1994 season, the Warnors fell to 0-4 overa!J and o-2 in the South Division. The loss extended the War– riors' winless streak to 10 The school record is 11 as the 1984 team went 0-10 and the 1985 squad drop– ped its season opener '.'It was worse than Co-Lm," Bridgman said of his latest loss In their 29-14 loss at Co-Lin. the Warriors fell behind 22-o before stag– ing a late comeback that saw them get to within 22-14 with the ball "We just didn't play very well at any point with the exception of a short period of time during the third quarter," Bridgman said. "We s tep– ped up and played a little better defensively then, but one reason we played better was because they were being conservative and (GCCC head coach J .C. Arban) pulled out his best qua r terback for the other guy. " I just didn't think we played very well and I don't really have a good excuse for it.' • As has been the case in three of ECCC's first four games, the opposi– tion got a touchdown on its first possession. Facing third-and-1 at his 31, ECCC freshman quarterback Bobby Breen fumbled with GuJf Coast's Jacco Cooper recovering at the 22. An– thony Skinner scored on a 2-yard run with 12:31 to go in the first quarter. Doug Thompson added the first of his four extra points. The Bulldogs didn't do anything the Warriors didn't expect on the drive.

Harold Roberts (99) of Neshoba Central helps out on the tackle in ECCC's 28-12 loss to Gulf Coast last week. " Getting points scored on you quick is demoralizing. The biggest two problems we've had all year are getting points scored on us quick and fumbling the ball. We did both of those things right off the bat. It just threw us into a Twilight Zone or something." ' A 26-yard run by James McGee to the GCCC 6 enabled the Warriors to get their second touchdown which came on an 11-yard toss from Breen to Omeri Green with 1:48 to go in the third period. A two-point run fa iled. Hunt added another interception in the fourth quarter, but neither team could score again. Gulf Coast improved to 2-2 overall and 2-0 in the division.

ECCC halted the Bulldogs' next possession when Eddie Hunt picked off a pass at his 15. The next GCCC drive resulted in points as 6-foot-6 sophomore quarterback Nicky Savoie found tight end Wendell Davis open for a 28-yard score with 1:45 left in the first period. ECCC's Hunt stripped Skinner from the ball and returned it 15 yards to the Coast 23 to give the War– riors their first scoring threat. Breen got the touchdown on a 1-yard keeper around left end with 9:~4left in the second quarter. Peyton Weems' PAT was wide left as ECCC trailed 14-6. Savoie got those points back when he scored on a 43-yard run around left end with 6:21 to go before halftime. The Dogs added a 1-yard dive by Chris Craft with 2:08left in the first half to carry a 28-6 lead into inter– mission.

ECCC travels to Poplarville Satur– day to play Pearl River at 6 p.m. The Wildcats were 24-6 losers at Hinds last week and had just 56 total yards on 44 offensive plays. The lone touchdown was by the defense. They have had problems scoring all year as they average just 9.3 points per game. ECCC has a llowed 15 touchdowns in its four outings. . PRCC is led by former East Cen– tral assistant Willie Coats. Pearl River holds a 39-14-3 advan– tage in the series. ''If we play and don't make mistakes, we're going to be in a game and may win a game;• Bridg- _ man said. "People aren't beating us nearly as much as we're beating

"This bunch did exactly what we thought they were going to do," Bridgman said. "One thing that hurt us tonight was we came out real flat and unemotional. I don't know if APPEAREI maybe the kids just somehow got it in their minds that they were going CART Hi to beat GuJf Coast and that was that NESHOJ and it wouJd happen. I don't know why we would ever do that because NEWTOI we're not in that position, but we CLARI< played like that. And we played that way through the first half.

ourselves." Gulf Coast. East Central .

14 14 0 0- 28 0 6 6 0- 12