Grin And Bear It: Tigers Fall To Southwest
CLARKSDALE — Thursday night started off so promising.Â
It took hardly any time for the Coahoma Community College Tigers to jump on top of the Southwest CC Bears. On the game's first play, Christian Williams reeled off the longest kickoff return in modern Tiger history, sprinting and cutting 99 yards to the promised land to put his team up 7-0 and bring James E. Miller Stadium to its feet.
Unfortunately, his was the only touchdown that the Tigers would score all night. The Southwest offense responded to falling behind early by outscoring Coahoma 52-3 the rest of the way en route to a 52-10 victory. It was the second win of the season for the Bears.Â
Five sacks, a fumble, an interception, and too many missed tackles spelled doom for the Tigers. Southwest QB Tyler Shell kicked off the Bears' scoring by finding a wide-open Ladarius Slocum for a 35-yard touchdown pass less than a minute Williams' return.
The teams traded field goals to end the first, but from there it was all Bears. Their quarterback tandem of Tyler Shell and De'Angelo Ballard combined for 95 yards through the air, but it was the ground game that handed Coahoma its sixth loss. Ballard rushed for 166 yards and 3 TD, while running back Chris Jones added 149 yards of his own in a devastating running attack that left the Tiger defense at times looking helpless.
Coahoma managed 139 in the air, but only 39 on the ground. Starting QB Mickey Ridley, Jr. suffered a foot injury midway through the first quarter and split time from there on out with Anthony Mitchell, Jr. Mitchell and James Hill accounted for the Tigers' most spectacular from-scrimmage play late in the first half. With time ticking away, Mitchell connected with Hill for a team-high 54-yard completion that moved the ball to the Southwest 12 with just two seconds before the break. Cody Spears just missed the ensuing field goal attempt.
The Tigers travel to Holmes CC this Saturday to take on the Bulldogs and then finish their season on Thursday, October 23 at home vs. Northwest Mississippi. Kickoff against Holmes is slated for 6:00 pm.
For photos from the game courtesy of JUCO Weekly, please click here.
For boxscore of the game, click here.
