2000

East Central hopes unbeaten tonight a

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By Evan Smith The Meridian Star

But Underwood $nys fcgnrdless ol' hw they look on paper. Co:tlmmn has I he pot tial of pul1ing nn up1.wt l(luight if his W · J riors don't come rcuc.ly to play .in the gn... _ l "Thc1r two !oases have been tOJ teams that hnvtl rt combined 1 cconl ofj 4-0. And tlwr·p nt'l' only five undcfmfc~· . ed teams lello11t 91' 14 in the ll•n1Nfl~· So they hnve Josl to sornt• n•ally goodl teams," he snid. • ~~:: "They've got nt IC.~st four or five guyJI' defe~shrely who ~ould play for any~ one m the leot.>'Ue. They've got two defensive ends l~think could start ori a lot of college lt'~~ms," he ncldl•d. ~:: But whilo I Jndt~iwood has a IHJHlthy respect lor tonight's opptltH)ut., he is confident his lNtm can n~111nin unde– feated if they piny the ,f.ay thcy'1•e capuhle:u The Warriors aren't 2-0 for nothing. 1'he3 have a strong running ,attack fueled by tail that kic~s ofTat. G:SO p.m. playing. f.

DECATUR- A l ot of people migbt not give Coahoma Community C'ollege much of a chance to win tonight's football game at unbeaten East Cen– tral. ECCC head coach Terry Under– wood isn't one of them.

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"Coahoma is not a bad team and they are not coming here for any other reason than to win a football game," Underwood said. "I kno\v they haven't won in a while, but I also know their players are very eager to win."

The Jowly 'T'igers, who have post- Underwood ed records of 0-10 and 1-9 in their last two seasons, are off to another dismal start this year - but against good competi– tion. They lost 37-0 to nationally-ranked Hinds in their season opener and took a 38-6 pounding at the hands of an undefeated

Paula Merritt/The Meridian Sta r ON THE MOVE - East Central quarterback Mitchell McKinnon, shown above, hope to improve their record •"' ~-n tonight when they host Coahoma.

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Pearl ltivcr tcnrnlast weok. ·

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ECCC Continued from page 1C -- backH Pntrick. Prince. D<~rdck Spellers and forme•· Newton County High standout 'l'~t'· ranee Wansley, as well a~ quarterback Mitchell McKin non. The defense. which Under wood expected to be a strength going into the sea– son, showed· signs of improvement in ,last. weeks 14-0 win over Delta "I thought our defense played a lot better/' he said. "\.Ve didn't give up any big plays -'long passes or 1ong runs - for scores. And we

tackled better, ran to the ball better and played our scheme better. "Any time you get a shutout - I don't care what level you're at - you played good defentle." While he was pleased wit h the effort of the entire defen– sive unit, Underwood said several players in particular had strong performances. Inside linebacker John Bibb (Fr., Tuscaloosa, Ala.) had 14 tackles and two assists; and defensive ends Quentin Bowens and Jermaine Cros– by each had eight tackles. Evan Smith is a staff writer lor The Meridian Star. E-mail him at sports@morldianstar.com. --~

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