Short-handed Indians fall to Holmes in season finale, 63-49
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC

GOODMAN, MS – The No. 15 Itawamba Community College football team, hampered by injuries and illness, dropped a 63-49 road decision to the No. 19 Holmes Community College Bulldogs Saturday.

Sophomore quarterback Peyton Bender (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) completed 39 of 51 passes for 466 yards, 6 touchdowns, and three interceptions. Freshman Terry Williams (Southaven) led the receivers with 11 catches for 168 yards and a touchdown while Kam Coleman (Horn Lake) hauled in 7 catches for 83 yards and three touchdowns with Cedric Bradford (Tuscaloosa, AL) and Octavious Matthews (Stevenson, AL) each adding a touchdown reception.  

Matthews rushed for 64 yards on 3 carries.

Trailing 14-0, the Indians got on the board on a 1-yard touchdown run by Dan Ellington (Olive Branch) with 5:00 left in the first quarter before the Bulldogs (6-3, 4-2 MACJC North) answered with a 5-yard scoring run early in the second quarter to take a 21-7 advantage.

The Indians quickly rattled off 21-unanswered points to take their first lead of the contest, 28-21.

Bender hit Bradford on a 37-yard scoring toss, Williams with a 74-yard touchdown pass, and Coleman with a 9-yard touchdown pass in a span of less than six minutes, but Holmes would find another answer with a 2-yard touchdown run with 34 seconds left in the first half to tie the contest, 28-28, at the break.

The Indian regained the lead in the third quarter on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Bender to Coleman, but the Bulldogs answered with a 48-yard touchdown run 20 seconds later to pull even with 3:26 left in the quarter. Bender for Coleman for his third touchdown on a 6-yard toss to give the Indians a 42-35 lead.

The Bulldogs scored 21-unanswered to start the fourth quarter to take a 56-42 lead. Bender hit Matthews for a 58-yard catch and run to make it 56-49, but the Bulldogs capitalized on the Indians fourth turnover of the game to take a 63-49 lead on a 12-yard touchdown run before getting the fifth to allow them to run out the clock and hold on for the victory.

Missing seven players due to injury or illness, the ICC defense surrender 521 yards of total offense (338 rushing; 183 passing) to the Bulldogs' triple option offensive attack.

Tay Carothers (Aberdeen) led the Indians with 10 tackles with 2 going for a loss of 9 yards. Kemon Hall (Calhoun City) added 7 tackle, 1 for a loss of 2 yards, an interception returned 17 yards, and 2 pass break ups. Donald Twilley (Batesville) had 9 tackles and Quinshay Heard (Hamilton) added 8 tackles on the afternoon.

The Indians had 567 yards of total offense (466 passing; 101 rushing) despite being without five players on the offensive side of the ball.

Zach Ellis (Tupelo) went 7 of 7 on extra point attempts. Rip Kirk (Batesville) had 5 punts for a total of 172 yards.

With the loss, the Indians fall to 5-4 on the season and 2-4 in the MACJC North. All four of the Indians' losses were to teams ranked in the Top 20.

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