No. 15 Indians shine in national spotlight with 40-6 win over Southwest
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com

SUMMIT, MS – The Itawamba Community College football team stepped into the national spotlight, and sophomore running back Chris Ingram stole the show in the Indians' 40-6 victory over Southwest Mississippi Community College on Thursday.

Ingram (Southaven) rushed for 94 yards and four touchdowns on 19 carries as the No. 15 Indians (2-0; 0-0 MACJC North) beat the Bears (1-1; 0-0 MACJC South) in the NJCAA's Game of the Week.

"Our big guys up front dominated the line all night long," said Ingram. "They do a really good job opening holes for us to run and protecting our quarterbacks to be able to throw the ball and open up the run even more."

The Indians took a 7-0 lead when LaDarrell Hunt (Noxubee County) scored on an 8-yard run before Ingram added touchdown runs of 8 and 5 yards to put ICC up 20-0 in the second quarter.

The Bears got on the board with a 7-yard TD pass as time expired on the first half from Jamil Golden (Memphis, TN) to Aaron Chappell (Butler, GA) to make it 20-6 and grab momentum at the break.  

"I think we kind of lost our focus thinking the clock was about to run out before they could score," said ICC head football coach Jon Williams. "We reminded the guys of the heart that [Southwest] plays with and how we needed to play every second of every play with the same intensity that we opened with."

Southwest rattled off 19-unanswered points in the second half to beat Northwest Mississippi Community College 19-15 to open the 2013 season, but the Indians' defense made sure the Bears wouldn't repeat those heroics with relentless pressure on Golden, forcing the former Mississippi State QB to miss on his first six pass attempts of the second half.

Ingram put the Indians up 27-6 with a 4-yard rushing touchdown and put the game on ice with a second 4-yard TD run to give ICC a 33-6 edge going into the fourth quarter.

ICC added its final score of the night when Andrew Goodman (Charlotte, NC) found AJ Hunt (Saltillo) on a pass over the middle that ended with the freshman stretching the ball over the goal line after weaving his way through numerous Bears defenders.

"AJ's effort on that play was exactly what we were talking about during halftime," Williams commented. "We want that type of effort and hunger from everyone no matter the situation."

Hunt had 4 catches for 61 yards while Goodman added 92 yards on 7 of 9 passing to go along with the touchdown.

For the second-straight week ICC eclipsed the 500-yard mark in total offense as 19 different Indians helped amass 502 total yards (307 passing; 195 rushing) in the victory.

"I don't think we were a sharp as we were last week, but Southwest's defense had a lot to do with that," said Williams. "I thought at times we were a little sluggish and didn't give the effort we needed to be giving, but it's always good to get a win and still see things that you need to work on to get better."

Jarvis Bently (Columbus, GA) caught 7 passes for 67 yards and JaNardreon Jones (Noxubee County) chipped in 65 yards on 4 catches to lead the Indians' receivers while last week's MACJC Offensive Player of the Week Griff Loftis (Mooreville) connected on 20 of 36 passing for 215 yards and two interceptions.

The Indians defense held the Bears to 216 yards (118 passing; 98 rushing) of total offense with Golden totaling 108 yards on 15 of 34 with Dylan Knott (Brandon) hauling in 50 yards on 5 receptions and Chris Jones (Tylertown) rushing for 65 yards on 8 carries.

Randal Boyd (Forest) had 4 tackles (3 solo; 1 assist) with 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, a quarterback hurry, a sack for a loss of two yards, and 1.5 tackles for a loss of 10 yards.

"Coach (Sean) Cannon had his guys well prepared for this game," said Williams. "They played the second half with a lot more intensity than they did the first half. I have to credit Coach Cannon for getting the guys refocused on the task at hand and I think it spread across the entire team instead of just the defense."

The Indians will open MACJC North Division play against Mississippi Delta Community College at Eaton Field on Thursday.

"Mississippi Delta is one of the most improved teams from last season," commented Williams. "We'll enjoy this victory and then it's back to business and getting ready for Delta to come to town on Thursday."

The Trojans (0-2; 0-0 MACJC North) opened the season with a 49-7 loss to No. 10 Hinds Community College and dropped a 30-14 to Pearl River Community College this past Thursday.

The game will air on WAFM 95.7 FM and live streamed on LetsGoICC.com starting at 6:40 p.m. with the Davis Ford Pre-Game Show.

For more information on ICC football, follow ICC Athletics on Twitter (@LetsGoICC).