2000

WEEK OF A~~. 2

George Clark/The Meridian Star IN HOT PURSUIT- Old rivals East Central and East Mississippi will play for the 61 st time Thursday nrgh: at EMCC's Sullrvan-Windham Memorial Stadium. •

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lege state playoffs. one ofthe wm~ came at Scooba. That's when East Central scored 26 unanswered points and stomped the Lions 33-13 - pushing their lead in the all-time series to 30-26- 4. "I'm sure they're eager to get back at us," Underwood said. Actually, EMCC is just eager to get back in the win column. The Lions slipped to 4-6 a year ago after going 6-4 in 1998 and 8-2 and 1997. Goode, in his ninth year, has a cou– ple of preseason All-Americans return– ing on the offensive side of the football in Milford Brown and Marvin Nickson. Brown is a mammoth lineman who will anchor the offensive line at center, while Nickson is a 245-pound tight end. They'll be blocking for the likes of tailback Randy Bell and fullback Samuel Tisdale, Jr., a sophomore from Kemper County High School. Goode said his bunch is without a doubt ready for its opener. "These guys have been out here in this dang heat for too long," he chuck– led. "They've been going at it n rPttv

Y v e've been

giving our players a little history of the game. But a lot of them don't need any histo– ry to get up for Underwood this one. It's always an inten_fe rivalry and it's always heated" -ECCC coach Terry Underwood ing between the pair. "We've been giving our players a lit– tle history of the game," Underwood said. "But a lot of them don't need any history to get up for this one. "It's always an intense rivalry and i~'s always heated," he said. "A lot of

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