Indians deal Northeast 38-19 loss in Fulton
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com

FULTON, MS – The ICC football team was playing with a full deck Thursday night and Richard McQuarley was their ace in the hole as they defeated Northeast 38-19 in front of packed house at Eaton Field.

"It was a good overall win," said Coach Sean Cannon. "We had way, way too many penalties and that's really what set us back in the first half, but our guys overcame that and was able to get a great victory."

McQuarley (Meridian) was more than the Tigers' defense could deal with as he averaged nearly 12 yards per carry on his way to a 258-yard and four touchdown performance.

"The guys gives us a spark when you have to pound out a game on the ground like this one," said Cannon. "We wanted to come out and establish the run game in the second half because we felt like if we kept running the football and good things would happen."

VIDEO: THE NATIONAL GUARD POSTGAME REPORT WITH COACH CANNON

Northeast (2-5, 2-3 MACJC North) took a 3-point lead early in the second quarter and held that lead until McQuarley broke a 44-yard touchdown run with 2:24 left in the half. ICC took a 17-13 lead into the break and battled their way out to a 24-13 advantage on a 6-yard touchdown run by McQuarley with under three minutes left in the third.

McQuarley dealt the final blow with two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard run and a 19-yard reception to take a 38-13 lead with 2:43 left in the game. The Tigers did find the end zone with under a minute left to play, but Calwaun Street (Enid) intercepted the two-point conversion and returned it 59 yards before being chased down by a Northeast player.

ICC racked up 449 yards of total offense with Kwadra Griggs (Greenwood) completing 15-of-27 passing for 181 yards and two touchdowns to go along with McQuarley's 300 all-purpose yards after adding 42 yards on 3 catches to his 258 yards rushing. Grant Kimberlin (Olive Branch) hauled in 6 catches for 86 yards, including a 56-yard touchdown reception.

Defensively, the Indians held the Tigers to 380 yards of total offense. Devan Gilleylen (Shannon) had 12 tackles (8 solo; 4 assists) with 3.5 tackles for a loss of 24 yards and 2.5 sacks for a loss of 22 yards with Antonio Clifton (Tupelo) adding 10 tackles (8 solo; 2 assists).

"Our defensive played outstanding," Cannon said. "They held them on seven plays inside the five-yard line, forced turnovers that our offense was able to turn into points, and the special teams was lights out tonight causing them a lot of problems with their kicking game."

Cartin McBride (Calhoun City) blocked his fourth punt of the season and Terrance Jones (Bruce) recovered a fumble and returned to 33 yards along with Quindarius Thagard (Luverne, AL) recovering another fumble in the win.

"The kids fought hard tonight and executed the game play," Cannon commented. "Couldn't be more proud of those guys and the way they fought to get this win."

The Indians improved to 3-4 overall and 3-2 in MACJC North Division play and kept their playoffs hope alive with their fifth-straight win over the Tigers.

ICC will travel to Mississippi Delta on Saturday, October 18 with the First American National Bank Opening Kickoff slated for 2:00 p.m. with the Davis Ford Pregame Show starting at 1:40 on WAFM 95.7 FM and LetsGoICC.com.

"We've got a long week to prepare for a very good Delta team," said Cannon. "It's going to be their homecoming and they'll be looking to keep their shot at the playoffs alive just like us so we'll have to have another good week of practice to get ready for another really good football team."

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