1998

• w rr1ors By Rocky Higginbotham The Me ::> Sa

DECATL1'R- For as long as he remain, in football. first-year Ea~t Central bead coach Terry Underwood Will remember '"The Drive-. Underv.;ood', ECCC Warriors had the ball ju'=t once in the th1rd quarter of Thursday's n._hf.., conte,t at b Jme· against South Dhi.sion rival Southwest. And apparently, that's all they needed. East Central kept po.. ::.ession for nearly the entire guarter, then ended "the drive" with a one-yard touchdown plunge on the flrst play of the fourth period - a score that pr ·idcd the game-winning points in a 12-7 victory over the \,,itmg Bears. The Warriors, t r ailing 7-6, started the march at their own 20-yard line with 12:52 on the third-quarter clock. Eigh ty vards, 21 plays and six fi r st Ciown,- later, Kevin :\lcKenzie took it in from one-vard out four second~ into the fourth quarter. ~That':::- ju,t what we prac– tice.- an exhau.-.ted Underwood said of the textbook march. "That'-. wbat we do" The dri,·e was JU't about all the offense either team could muster Ea,t Central stood toe– to-toe with the state's No. 2 rushing defense, and completely shut down I\fissig~ippf" )\o. 1 rushing offense. The Warriors wound up with 203 yards while Southwest h ad just 165. "We challenged our offense tonight," Underwo .d said. "We didn't do anything fancy, we just lined up and wen t at 'em. See Warriors. Paoe 3C Warrior:s

the one The Wa rnors were stacked up there on the final play of the third quarter. but McKe'nzie had no trouble find ing the end zone when the teams went to the other end Southwest never really seri– ously threatened afterwards. An incomplete pa s at the ECCC 39 turned the ball over on downs with 10 26 left in the game, then the Warnors got an interception from Duane Brisbon with nine second" remami ng to seal the win. East Centr aJ had gone up 6-0 in th e f!n t q ua rter after Jermam Bovd recovered a Bear fumble and "returned it 39 yards to the outh,.,.·est 16. Three

pl ays later, Flugence found Corey Pugh on a 10-yard touch– down pass. Southwest took a slim, 7-6 lead into the locker room with a second-quarter score, also tak· ing advantage of a fumble that they recovered at the ECCC 43. Seven plays later , rece i ver Derrick Yates went nine yards on a reverse for the touchdown. and Mac Hart's k ick gave the Bea rs t h eir only lead of t he night. Southwest fell to 3-2 and 0-1. The win Improved Ea--t CentraJ to 2-3 on the ~eason nnd evened the Warriors· l""ar;;: at 1-1 1n the d ivision after cl dt.., pp1)1Dt _ loss at Co-Lm ia,t ~~~.-eek.

Cont1nued from page 1 C "And we beat a good football team tonight,""Underwood said. East Central looked like it migh t stall on its long drive when - a fter McKenzie had carried it to the one-inch line - an illegal procedure call pushed it back to outsi«tf the five . On third-and-goal from there, quar– terback Reggie Flugence was upended at the one to set up fourth-and-goal. He was stopped short of the goal line , but Southwest yanked him down by the facemask, and the personal foul gave the Warriors new life with another first-and-goal.from