1994

Northwest CC escapes with win over Warriors Freshman quarte r back

and 11, and running back Der– rell Reed, on third and 16. The Breen to Reed com hi– nation covered 24 yards and gave EC possession on the Northwest 12. The Warrior miscue obvi– ously energized the RAngers as quarterback Bryan Sparaci– no engineered a 99-yard drive, with the final 11 yards coming on a touchdo,vn toss to split end Andre Rone early in the second period. Williams again added the PAT. East Central wo u ld later "energxze" itself by scoring 10 points in the final 23 seconds before halftime. The first score came on a 36-yard strike from Breen to wide receiver Juan Draine. P eyton Weems' PAT cut the Northwest lead to 14-7. East Central would later get a break when linebacker Brad Moody recovered a Ranger fumbl e on the North– west 33 with just 14 seconds left. Then with only five sec– onds left, Weems, a freshman placekicker from Louisville, split the u prights on a 41-yard fi eld goal and sent a jubilen t Warrior squad into the dress– ing room. However, Northwest began third period action much the same as it did the first quarter by lighting up the scoreboard. The Ranger touchdown came on fullback John Avery's f!ix– yard run, clima.xing a 76-yard drive. The PAT was blocked by freshman Jami Day of Nesho– ba Central , but the Ranger s

held a 20-10 advantage with 8:15 left in the third period. East Cen tr al would later capitalize on another North– west miscue to once again cut the visitors' lead. It was the EC defense regis– tering the big play, as Banks blocked a Northwest punt which was recovered by Mar– cus Green on the Ranger 24. On first down, fullback J ames McGee hulled his way for 22 yards to the two-yard line, and Breen later sneaked fo r the remaining distance and t h e score. Breen tried to pass for the two-pQint conversion but his pass'• fell incomple te. McGee was EC's leading rush– er with 50 yards on 10 carries. The game's final pointl:i came late in the third period when the Rangers' 67-yard dnvc, aided mostly by Warrior penalties, ended with-Aver y scoring his second touchdown, this time on a fi ve-yard run. Williams' PAT was blocked by Warrior Stacey Whitehead, a 6-5, 299-pound defensive line– man from New Br en, North Carolina. East Central marched into Ranger territory several times in the final stanza, and once reached the 11-yard line, only to have the drive stall. East Central will face divi– sion opponent Mississippi Gulf Coast in a 6:30 p.m. kickoff this Thursday at Warrior Sta– dium. The Bulldogs 0-2) lost to East Mississippi (3-0) by a 24-14 margin last week in Biloxi.

Bobby Breen had his best per– formance of directing the East Central Community College offense, but the Warriors fell just short of victory in a well– played 26-16 loss to Northwest Thursday night on the Decatur campus. East Central racked up 22 first downs and 333 total yards in registet;ng its third straight loss of the young campaign. Northwest, which improved 2- 1, had 24 first downs and 348 offensive yard~. Breen, who led West Mon– roe (Louisiana) High School to the 1993 Class 5A S t ate Championship and was select– ed the game's most valuable player, completed 15 of 32 passes for 192 yards and one touchdown. He had one inter– ception. When the non-division matchup got underway, it first appeared Northwest would win in a r out . Th e Rangers took the opening kickoff and in j ust three plays found paydirt on fullback Richard Hunter's 12-yard run. Nason Williams kicked the PAt a nd the visitors led 7-0 with 13:38 r emaining in the opening stanza. After an exchange of pos–

session, East Central appeared headed fot a tying touchdown u ntil a fumble inside the Northwest one-yard line nixed the scoring threat. East Cen– tral had driven from its own 37, with Breen successfully converting third down situa– tions with completions to wide APPEARE receiver Chris Banks . 6n third CARTHAGINIAN .V NESHOBA DEMOCRAT

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