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ECCC headed to Holmes East Central Community College will be looking to rebound against the Holmes Community College Bulldogs Saturday after losing a heart– breaker in double-overtime last Thursday at Gulf Coast. The Warriors (3-1, 0-1) got dov·m early in last week's con– test but fought back to give themselves a chance to win late in the game. And according to head coach Terry Underwood, the character his team showed in making that comeback was what he was most pleased with. 1 'Being down 27-7 on the road, and not playing particu– larly well, it would have been easy for our kids to have thrown in the towel," Under– wood said. "But they never quit and never stopped believ– ing. I was really proud of that.'' As usual, the East Central offense was able to move the ball well on the ground. The state's top rated l'ushing offense piled up 245 yards on the ground, most of which came from quarterback Mitchell McKinnon. McKinnon (So., Palatka, Fla.) led the team with 102 yards rushing By Evan Smith The Meridian Star

Paula Merrittrrhe Meridian Star TACKLED - East Central's Mitchell McKinnon tries to break a tackle against Coahoma. on 19 carries. Unfortunately for the War–

practice this week. "We feel like we have (solved the problems in the kicking game). We've really tried to.simplify. Maybe we've just been trying to do too much. And not only in our kicking game but just getting back to the basics every– where.'' Underwood knows things won't get any easier this week as his squad travels to Holmes. The Bulldogs are 2-2 on the year and coming off a 31-7 loss to Itawamba last week. But once again, Under– wood says this team is better than their record indicates. See ECCC, P~e SC

riors, the ·special teams were about as bad as the offense was good. "We broke down in the kick– ing game,'' Underwood said. 'We had a kickoff returned, we fumbled a punt that set up a touchdown for them and we had two extra points blocked. And you know, our kicking has really been a constant area for us. It hasn't necessarily been great, but it hasn't been any– thing that has been an Achilles heel for us. It just blew up in our face the other night." Underwood and his staff have been giving extra atten– tion to the special teams in

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expecting great things from them. "We still haven't played as good as we can play. We haven't even scratched the surface. We've done some good things, but we're looking for a game where we just put it all together." And hopefully for the War– riors, that game will be Satw·- daynight. . Kick-off is set for 6}un Saturday on the Goodman campus. All Warrior football games can be heard on WSSJ FM(98.3). Evan Smith is a sports writer for The Meridian Star E-mail him at esmith@meridianstar.com.

Continued from page 1C "They're a very solid foot– hall team in every area," Underwood said. "They have a lot of big play capability on the offense. I wouldn't say they have as much as Gulf Coast, but they have some kids like that. They've got great receivers and running backs and the quar– terback, J.V. Holly that played for Alabama in the All-Star game."

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Underwood knows the loss SPIRIT OF MC to Gulf Coast has set his team , ,..back a little, but he is still NEWTON ME~St:Nl:it:t(