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Southwest outmans East Central By Marty Stamper The Meridian Star DECATUR - East Cen– tral Community College head football coach Terrv Under– wood knew his \\'arriQr' faced a big challenge. espe– cially on offense. when they

squared off with South- west Thur;;– day night. The Bears, tied with Dixie CUtah) State College for the ::\o. 11 spot in this week's XJCAA poll, lin•d up to

Southwest 24 ECCC

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Brobby Moore/The Meridian Star BREAKING LOOSE - East Central's Dontay Spillman tries to break a tackle against Southwest Thursday night.

their billing as they claimed a 24-12 South Dh·ision win over EC to improve to 8-1 overall and 4-1 in the divi- Southwest hosts No. 6 Hinds next week. EC fell to 5-4 and 2-3 and closes out at Pearl River on Thursday. "They've got a great defen– sive team," Underwood said of the Bears. "I don't know il their defense isn't as good as llinds_all.d we ~.!!_that way ~CCC ontinued from page 1C sion.

all week. We knew it was going to be a big challenge with our offense to move the football against them. "And they've got a good offensive team. They've just got a real solid football learn. We got be a~ by a real good football tean1. I've coached a long time and I know when I've been beat We got beat tonight farr and square. ou~ kids plaved h:mi -lVe made 15-yard penalty, the Warriors, extra point attempt resulted in a desperation pass that fell incomplete.

some mistakes here or there that we might have had a chance to pull it out, but in the end, we just didn't get it done and they did." After a scoreless first quarter, the Bears took a 3-0 lead on a 44-yard field goal by Brad Boyd with 14:02 showing in the second quar– ter. See ECCC, Page 3C pitchout around left end from four yards out\ for a touch– down. Boyd's PAT gave South– west a 17-6 lead with 6:15 left in the third quarter. Dontay Spillman breathed life back into the EC hopes when he returned a punt 81 yards for a touchdown with 11:43 to play. On the two– point try, Brian Zbyenieski was sacked by Kelvin Morris to leave the Warriors trailing 17-12. With 41 seconds left, Alon– zo Ard took a pitch arow1d left. end for a 2-yard touchdown run to seal the win for South– west. The big play on the drive was when Hines found Joe Hill for a 19-yard gain to the EC 6 on fourth-and-7 with 2:50 remaining. Boyd's kick capped the scoring. Marty Stamper is a sports corre– spondent for the Meridian Star. E-mail him at sports@merldianstar.com.

The Bears moved from '!'he Bean'l answered with a 1eir 16 to the EC 20 where a 13-yard touchdown r un by i-yard sack of Andl·eco Hines J eremy Myles with 2:34 oy Rashad Blalock forced the remaining in the first half. field goal. Boyd's PAT gave Southwest a D'Angelo Lewis put the 10-6 midway lead. Warriors in business when he Both teams lost scoring picked off a Hines pass at chances early in the second midfield and returned it to the half. The Bears had the ball at Southwest 29 midway the EC 48 only to lose a fum– through the second quarter. bJe that Quentin Bowens On third-and-9 at the 16, recovered at the BeaTs 44. The "' Wanior quarterback Mitchell Warriors then drove to the 13 ,.. McKinnon fumbled the ball where a holding penalty pushed the ball back to the l away to the Bears at the 9. 25. A 34-yard field goal bid Hines returned the favor d d · h ~ when he was blasted by Ke!'th en e m zilc when the snap was low to the holder and the l Curry and Jon Gusman kick wasn't attempted. returned the fumble 15 yards Hines set up the Bears' \ for a touchdown to give the next score when he raced 64 c Warriors a 6-3 lead with 6:02 yards to the EC 3. Two plays " to go before halftime. After a later, Jacob Prim took a NEW I ON Mt:~~t:I'H.:n;;."'

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