2009

Warriors pull offmiracle Emmanuel Taylor's 25-

had already sung" and began leaving the stadium when Northeast (2-4) stretched its lead to 28-14 with 3:49 remaining. But Taylor and the Warriors had other ideas and' quickly marched 65 yards m just six play , capped by Taylor's 43-yard TO pass to Jeremy Harve)' \\tth 1.29 left. A key play during the scoring drive mcluded Taylor 's 14-yard pass to McMillan on third-and– seven, whtch gave EC po:. session on the Tiger 48. After the Warrior defense forced the Tigers to punt on the ensmng possession, l:.C took over on its own 18 with just 1:06 left. Taylor scrambled for 23 yards on ftrst down to the EC 41, and later connected with McMillan on a 7-yard pass to the Warrior 48. After three straight incomplete passes, Taylor and Tevtn Houston hooked up for a 16-yard completion on four¢-and-1 0 to the Tiger 36. Only seconds remained when EC called its final timeout to set the final play. Taylor took the snap from the shotgun formation and, after scrambling briefly, lofted a 36-yard pass to McMillan, who had gotten behiiJd the Tiger defense in the end zone. Chad Mangum booted his fourth PAT and sent the contest into over– time. Northeast went on offense first from the 25-yard line in the extra period and quickly moved to the 13 However. the Warrior defense stiffened and forced the Tigers to attempt a 30-yard field goal, but Tyler Turner's kick was wide right and set the stage for the Warriors' game-win– nmg score. The Tigers put the first

pomts on the scoreboard when speedster Jeremy Cannon tallied the first ofhts four touchdowns on a 6-yard run with 5:41 left in the first period. Turner made the first of his ·four PATs to give Northeast a 7-0 lead. EC tied the contest on the ensumg po esston when Taylor found the end zone on Ills 36-yard scamper. capping a t3-yard. t"he-pla. dme with 2:43 remaining m the initial penod The Ttgers regained the lead early in the second peri– od on Cannon's 51-yard burst through the Warrior defense. EC threatened to score during several opportunitJe:. in the second penod - includmg a first-and-goal sit– uation on the Tiger 3 with just under five minutes left before halftime. Howe\er. the scoring opporturuty was nixed when Taylor threw one ofhts three interceptions on a fade route in the end Lone. Taylor apparently wanted a more dramatic way to tie the contest and fired a strike to Dontice Sanders in the end zone on a 41-yard scoring pass play as hme exptred in the ftrst half. The five-play march began at the EC 25, and was highlighted by Taylor's 14-yard completion to Sanders on first-and-15 from the EC 20, Taylor's tO– yard run to the EC 44, and Taylor's 15-yard pass com– pletion to Radariuos Owens to the Northeast 41. The EC offense, which

yard touchdown pass to Antonio Hughes in overtime completed a stel- from lar perfonnance school for the sopho- reports more quarter- back and provided East Central Community CoUege with a stunning 34-28 home- coming victory over Northeast Mississippi Community College Satur– day afternoon on the Decatur campus. Taylor completed 19-of- 39 passes for 35 1 yards and four touchdowns, two of which amazingly came on the final play of each half Taylor also compiled 127 yards rushing on 13 carries and found pay dirt on a 38- yard run. The win snapped a three– game skid for the Warriors (2-4), who rallied for two late scores - including Taylor's 36-yard touchdown strike to Ronnie McMillan as time expired in regulation - to force the extra period. The Taylor-to-McMillan pass capped an 82-yard, nine-play drive that began with just over a minute remaining. Interim Warrior head coach Brian Anderson - who was obviously ecstatic following the unbelievable comeback - praised his squad for not giving up, espe– cially when trailing by 14 points with less than five minutes left in regulation. "It's amazing to me with aU the adversity - the two one-point losses that we've had - that we were able to battle back when it just seems that it's over. But that's the great thing about football; it's never over until that hom blows!" Many in the homecoming crowd thought the "fat lady

had 20 ftrSt downs, had 351 yards passtng and 155 yard:. rushing for a 506 total. Sanders led EC receivers with 100 yards on"' three ;HOBA DEMOCRAT catches. McMillan had 81 yards on five grabs Hughes )TT COUNTY TIMES had four catches for 62 yards.

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------ Northeast had 22 first ~STON COUNTY JOURNAL ---- CLARION-LEDGER -------

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