1994

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WEEK OF I

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ECCC's nightmare continues • Twi light 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 Warriors fell to 0-4 overall and 0-2 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-Lin," Br idgman said of his latest loss. In their 29-14 loss at Co-Lin. the Warriors fell behind 22-0 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 step– ped up and played a little better defensively then, but one reason we played better was because they were being conservative and

Harold Roberts (99) of Nashoba 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." \ A26-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 r un fa iled. Hunt added another interception in the fourth quarter, but neither team could score again. G1,1lf 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-)tard keeper around left end with 9:24left 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 2:08 lefl 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 allowed 15 touchdowns in its four outings. P.RCC 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

! ::l";:- A R r:- 1 maybe the kids just somehow got it · ·- • -rt. ~ in their minds that they were going CA RTHJ to beat Gulf Coast and that was that •. ; 5 ~ 01 and it would happen. I don't know ··- · · . why we would ever do that because N£\.JTO. we're not in that position, but we CLAR I< played like that. And we played that way through the first half.

ourselves." Gulf Coast .

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

East Central .