2008

~· Warriors fall 37-21 to Holmes By Marty Stamper Appeal Sports Editor David Hampton with 8:25 lett in the first quarter. llolmes lead to 15-9 with 2:26 1eft in the third quarter.

The homes tanding Warriors closed to within 7-3 with 4: I 0 to play in the opening period on a 28- yard field goal by Derek Crenshaw. A 58-yard punt return by Maurice Langston to the Holmes 20 set the Warriors up for their only lead of the afternoon. Derrick Cade had two canries for II yards and Courtney Shelton capped the short fi ve-play drive with a !-yard scor– ing run with 6: 13 remaining in the second quarter. Holder Dustin Alley bobbled the snap on the extra point try and ended up throwing an incompletion, leaving the Warriors up 9-7. ECCC carried that two-point lead into halftime after the Bulldogs missed a 23-yard field goal with I :07 left before intermis– sion, but Holmes used a 30-12 ~coring advantage in the second half to earn its first win or the year. Crenshaw was well short on a 45-yard field try for the Warriors with 12:06 showing in the third quarter. Two possessions later, Holmes took the lead for good on a 3-yard run by Harry Collins. Landry had completions of 23 and 16 yards on a pair of third downs to keep the drive alive. After ECCC was flagged for pass interference on a two-point pass, Collins ran in a two-point conversion to up

A fumbl e recovery and I7-yard return by Trel l flagons put I lolmcs back in business at the ECCC 3 1 late in the third quarter. Landry found Chris Frison open in the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter on a 31-yard toss. Landry then teamed with Hampton for a two-point conversion and 23-9 lead. Langston c ut the Warriors deficit to 23-15 when he fie lded a rolling punt and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown with II: 13 to play. Alley was unable to handle the snap on the PAT and Crenshaw was !.mothe red , leaving the Wanriors down by eight points. ECCC had apparently stopped !Iohnes on its next possession, but the Warriors were offside on a blocked 40-yard fie ld goal attempt. Given new life, Landry ran for 14 yards to lhe ECCC 4 on foUJih down. Collins scored on the next play as the Bulldogs led 30- 15 with 6:22 showing. A 30-yard run by Langston and a 23-yard pass from l:mmanuel Taylor to the llolmes 5 set lhe Warriors up for their final score. Langston got the touchdown on a 5-yard run with 5:37 left. Taylor fumbled the ball into the end zone on a two-pomt run with Holmes recovering. ECCC reached the Holmes 15

Despite the Warriors 37-2 1 loss to Holmes Community College Saturday afternoon in Decatur, East Central Community College first.:. year head football coach Steve Cheatham saw some progress from his teams 47-3 1 season-opening whipping at Coahom~ Community College. , There was a lot of impr<*c– ment m di ITerent areas, but we re ::.till not able to finish it, Cheatham said. Defensively, I thought we d1d ~orne good things today and offens J\>cly we did some good things. But we did some bad things on both side~ of the ball and in the t-icking game ... little mistakes that gt't you beat and we ve got to get better than that. We II just keep plugging away. llolmes, 1-9 a year ago, evcnc'd its 200l.~ record at 1-1 ECCC lt~ll to 0-2. The Warriors return to action Thursday when they host Hinds, 1-1. The Eagles lost 31-3 to Northwest Mississippi last week. Holmes drove 83 yards on its first possession to take an early 7-0 lead. Facing third-and-1 2 from his 48, Bulldog quarterback James Landry completed a 21-yard toss to keep the drive alive. Landry put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard with a 19-yard pass in the end zone to

East Central Community College quarterback Emmanuel Taylor tries to put a move on Holmes linebacker Drew Dennis in the Warr iors' 37-2 1 loss Satu rday at Decatur.

Photo by Marty Stamper

with just under three minutes remaining, but l lagans picked off a Taylor pass at the 5 and returned it 95 yards for a touchdown to seal the win for llolmes. After facing !lind'\ on Thursday, the Wamors travel to Jones thl! fol – lowing week No question the competition level is fi xing to pid up, Cheatham sa.id . We needed a win today, but thft s okay. Good things happen to rtpple that keep trying. We re going to come back to work and get beth and be ready for

Hinds when they come in.

Tailgating Plans for Hinds Members of the ECCC Warrior Club and prospective members are invited to participate in tailgating activities prior to Thursday nights game with Hinds. Activities are scheduled from 5 to 6:30 p.m. near the entrance to Bailey Stadium. Food and refresh– ments will be provided and one lucky Warrior Club member will win a La-Z-Boy leather recliner.