2007

ECCC has loaded schedule By Austin Bishop T11t• \t"\llVn Rt-cvrd

Mississippi is annually recog– nized as having one of the best· junior college football leagues in the nation and 2007 will be no dif– ferent. Practice East Central players

For the third con– secutive season P e a r 1 R i v e r Communi– ty College is the pre– season No. 1-ranked team in t h e NJCAA. T h e Wildcats, . which fm– ished 10-2 last year, losing to Blinn in t h e national champ i – onship game, are expected to be strong again. PRCC is 47-7 in five

will report for fall drills on Sunday, Aug. 5 and the first practice will begin on Aug. 7. For the first three days, teams are only allowed to practice once a day. After that East Central will practice twice a day, followed by once aday and then twice a day.

Schedule Aug. 30 at EMCC Sept 6 at Delta Sept. 13 JONES

Sept. 20 at Southwest Sept 27 PEARL RIVER Oct. 4 at Gulf Coast Oct. 13 CG-UN Oct 18 at Hinds Oct 25 COAHOMA

ROBBIE ROBERTSON/THE NEWTON RECORD East Mississippi Community College running back LeGarrette Blount tries to break away from an East Central defender. Blount is considered one of the best returning players in the state this year.

years under head coach Tun Hat– ten and has won four consecutive Mississippi Association of Com– munity and Junior College (MACJC) championships. The Wildcats won the National Championship in 2004, but fin– ished fourth last year after falling

to Blinn 19-6 in the Pilgrim's Pride Bowl. Pearl River opens the 2007 season at home agamst Mississip- pi Delta on Aug. 30. ·· "Four ranked teams from Mis– sissippi, that's kind of par for the course," ECCC coachTerry Under– wood said. "A lot of that is based

on what they did last year. But all of those schools should be strong again this year. But really, a lot of that is based on what they did last year. The great thing about junior college football, every year is a See ECCC, Page 2B