Indians take care of Coahoma, 41-20
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com

FULTON, MS – The Indians took advantage of three turnovers in a 41-20 win over the Coahoma Community College Tigers on Thursday night at Eaton Field. The Indians defense recovered two fumbles, picked off one pass, and had eight sacks on the night.

Peyton Bender (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) threw four touchdown passes and Octavious Matthews (Stevenson, AL) added a rushing touchdown in the victory.

Bender hit Cedric Bradford (Tuscaloosa, AL) on a 37-yard touchdown pass to get things started on the Indians' first drive of the game, but Coahoma answered with a 20-yard scoring run by Rodney English to make it 7-6 midway through the first quarter before Zach Ellis (Tupelo) booted a 22-yard field goal to put ICC up 10-6 after the first quarter of play.

Dorian Gaston (Ripley) and Matthews caught back-to-back 20-yard scoring tosses from Bender to take a 24-6 contest, but the Tigers snuck in a 38-yard touchdown pass from English to Eric Moore and converted the two-point conversion to cut ICC's lead to 24-14 at the break.

After a scoreless third quarter, Matthews scored on a 10-yard run before Bender connected with Gaston for the second time on the night with a 40-yard pass to put the Indians up 38-14 advantage. Coahoma scored on a 70-yard pass from wide receiver Jayshon Foster to Rickey May play to make it a 38-20 game after a failed two-point conversion.

Ellis kicked a 28-yard field goal in the closing minutes of the contest to give the Indians the 41-20 victory.

ICC improved to 4-3 overall and 1-3 in North Division play, while Coahoma fell to 0-7 on the year and 0-4 inside conference play.

Despite missing six starters on the night, the Indians totaled 446 yards (271 passing; 175 rushing) of offense.

Bender threw for 267 yards and four touchdowns on 18-of-30 passing while Dan Ellington (Olive Branch) connected on a pair of passes for nine yards. Matthews rushed for a season-high 105 yards and a touchdown while Tavonta Hadley (Tupelo) added 52 yards on 10 carries to go along with Ellington's 24 yards on three carries. Gaston caught four passes for 81 yards and two touchdowns while Bradford lone catch of the night with for 37 yards and his first collegiate touchdown reception.

Defensively, the Indians withstood the Tigers' best offensive performance of the season.

Daylon Fox (Southaven) led the Indians with 9 tackles (6 solo; 3 assists) and returned a fumble 13 yards while Kenney Wooten (Meridian) had 8 tackles (5 solo; 3 assists) with 4 sacks for a loss of 35 yards and 5 tackles for a loss for 38 yards, and 3 forced fumbles on the night. Kemon Hall (Calhoun City) returned an interception 49 yards and Jarvis Hayes (Slocomb, AL) added a fumble recovery for the Indians.

Ellis went 2-for-2 with field goals of 22 and 28 yards while connection on all five of his extra point attempts.

ICC will host Mississippi Delta Community College for Homecoming on Saturday, October 22 with kickoff slated for 3:30 p.m.

The Trojans come to Fulton at 1-6 on the season and 0-4 in North Division play after dropping a 34-10 decision to No. 9 Northeast Mississippi Community College on Thursday. Delta's lone win came after Copiah-Lincoln Community College had to forfeit their season opening 44-0 victory over the Trojans due to play an ineligible player.

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