2010

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0:: East Central, ltawa-mba battle for victory Both schools seek first win of 2010 season both squads are also led by fust– year coaches, although Brian Anderson served as "interim" head mentor of the Warriors last year. average followed by Hinds at 301 yards per contest.

tradition ofwinning and our guys were not intimidated at all. We had opportunities to score points but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot. We have a lot of talent on this team and I know we will continue to improve each week." After managing just six points in the season opener, the ECCC offense got untracked against Northwest with freshmen Blake Matherne of Boothville, La., and Dustin Land ofMilton, Fla., shar– ing quarterback duties. Matherne completed 14 of 23 passes for 227 yards and one score. Land was six of 12 for 149 yards and a touchdown. Radarious Owens of Quitman was the top receiver with six catches for 130 yards and a touchdown, a nine-yard strike from Matherne. Owens' longest reception covered 65 yards, also from Matherne. ECCC's passing offense is now ranked third in the state, behind East Mississippi and Hinds. The Warrior aerial attack is averaging 283 yards per con– test. East Mississippi has the top passing attack with a 375-yard

OveraLl, the ECCC offense is fourth, with a 426-yard average. Freshman linebacker Chris Ficklin ofForest led the Warrior defen·ge against Northwest with 13 tackles and four assists, four of which resulted in minus yardage. He was also credited with one-and-a-half quarterback sacks, a forced fumble a'b.d fum– ble recovery and helped block a Ranger PAT. Ficklin, a product of Scott Central High School, leads the state in tackles with 21 solo stops and eight assists. Overall, the ECCC defense is ranked ninth, allowing 363.5 yards per contest. East Central features one of the top kickoff return specialists in sophomore Caleb Porzell. Porzell, a transfer from the Uni– versity of Maryland, is ranked fifth with four returns for 109 yards, a 27.3-yard average. His longest return is 45 yards. He is a product of Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Silver Springs, Md.

Jon Williams is the new leader of the ICC Indians, after serving the previous three years as the squad's offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator. Williams is a 15-year coaching veteran and served as an assistant for former ECCC head coach Terry Under– wood. After two early setbacks, Coach Anderson said the War– riors remain focused on getting into the win column, although preparations for the ltawamba game have been hampered due to injuries on the offensive side of the ball. "We have bad a tremendous week defensively," Anderson said. "But offensively we're bat– tling the injury bug up front and concentrating on ball security." Two turnovers early in the third period contributed to the Warriors' inability to maintain a 20-19 advantage over Northwest

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

DECATUR - Two teams in search of a flfSt season victory will tangle on Thursday when East Central Community Col– lege's Warriors and the Itawamba Community College Indians meet in a non-division battle at 6:30 p.m. at Bailey Stadium on ·the Decatur campus. East Central began the 20 10 campaign with a 34-6 loss to vis– iting Northeast Mississippi Com– munity College and fell 41-26 to Northwest Mississippi Commu– nity College last week in Senato– bia. ltawamba was drubbed 52-31 by visiting Hinds Community College in the season opener and dropped a 34-14 decision last week to Pearl River Community College in Poplarville. ln addition to their 0-2 starts,

Chrts Acklin . Fonner Scott Central Rebel at halftime. The Rangers scored following both miscues. Despite the loss, Anderson was proud of his young team's effort. "We played hard and were obviously a much better team than we were against Northeast in the season opener," Anderson said. "Northwest has a very rich

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