No. 9 Indians hold off late rally, beats Holmes 13-10
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com

GOODMAN, MS – It wasn't pretty, but the No. 9 ICC Indians picked up a 13-10 road win over North Division foe Holmes Community College Bulldogs on Thursday.

"It was a typical night in the MACJC," said ICC head coach Jon Williams. "In this league anybody can beat anybody on any given night. It's always big when you can go on the road and find a way to win in this division."

The Indians (4-0; 2-0 MACJC North) struck first when Andrew Goodman (Charlotte, NC) found Jacquez McMillian (Southaven) over the middle for a 60-yard catch and run to take a 7-0 lead after a Jeb Millender (Pontotoc) extra point at the 5:17 mark of the first quarter.

Goodman would add to the Indians' lead on a 5-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter to give ICC a 13-0 halftime lead after Notre Dame transfer Tee Shepard blocked the extra point attempt.

The Bulldogs (0-4; 0-2 MACJC North) broke into the scoring column when an errant snap went over the head of Millender and out of the end zone for a safety with 8:10 left in the fourth quarter.

Holmes made things interesting with 1:07 left when James Ayers scored a 2-yard run and found David Huffines for the two-point conversion to make it 13-10 in favor of the Indians.

"We started losing our focus and making mental mistakes that gave them opportunities late in the game," Williams. "Like any good football team, Holmes did a good job of taking advantage of our mistakes to get back in the game."

McMillian recovered the ensuing onside kick and the Indians kneeled their way to the three-point victory to remain unbeaten on the season.

"I thought how our special team players responded after last week was really big for us," commented Williams. "Instead of panicking, they did what we work on every day in practice, made sure they secured the football, and came up with a big play for us to be able to get the win."

Goodman finished the night 151 yards passing with a touchdown on 15 of 33 passing while rushing for 64 yards and score on 12 carries.

McMillian finished the night with 71 yards and a touchdown on 3 receptions while Chris Ingram (Southaven) racked up 99 yards on 14 carries to help the Indians accumulate 361 yards of total offense.  

"We didn't have our best offensive performance of the year, but give credit where credit is due because Holmes had a lot to do with our struggles offensively," Williams said. "They are a really good football team that gets after you all four quarters of the ballgame and we did just enough to be able to come away with a win."

The Indians' defense had 23 tackles for loss with sophomore linebacker CJ Jackson (Water Valley) leading the way with 10 tackles (6 solo; 4 assists) with 4 tackles for a loss of 12 yards.

"The defense set the tone early," Williams. "They were in the backfield all night and made things really difficult for Holmes to establish their offense. We have to do a better job of wrapping up and making the stop because we really let a lot of tackles for loss turn into big gains and big plays for them late in the game."

ICC will host Northwest Mississippi Community College for Homecoming on Saturday, September 28th at Eaton Field.

"In this league there is never an off week," Williams. "Northwest is a team that has had our number over the past few years and they are going to come to our place looking to ruin our Homecoming and to get things pointed in the right direction with a win. We are going to have to come ready and focused to play our best football to be able to come away with a win."

Kickoff is slated for 4:00 with the game being broadcasted on WAFM 95.7 FM and streamed live at LetsGoICC.com starting at 3:40 p.m.

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