Indians upset bid of No. 8 Northwest comes up inches short, 31-24
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com
FULTON, - Alfred Dickens' goal line interception with less than a second to play, helped No. 8 Northwest Mississippi Community College escape Fulton with a 31-24 victory on Thursday.
Trailing 24-14, Zach Ellis (Tupelo) capped off a 13-play drive to pull the Indians (2-2, 1-1 MACJC North) within a touchdown before tying the game on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Kwadra Griggs (Greenwood) to Dominic Walker (Orlando, FL) with six ticks inside 12 minutes left to play.
Justin Crawford broke free for a 61-yard run to set up a 6-yard touchdown run by Max Joesph to put the Rangers (4-0, 2-0 MACJC North) ahead 31-24 with less than five minutes in the contest.
ICC drove to Rangers' 31-yard line before Dickens' late-game heroics sealed the victory for Northwest.
Dontavis Bruce (Olive Branch) scored on a 21-yard run to give the Indians their first lead of night, 14-10, at the 3 minute, 40 second mark of the second quarter, but Crawford answered with a 7-yard run to take a 17-14 lead into the break.
Bruce had 36 yards on 6 carries while Crawford had a season-high 269 yards on 33 carries.
The Rangers scored on an 11-yard pass from Gardner Minshew to Marquisian Chapman to take a 24-14 lead midway through the third quarter.
Minshew completed 19-of-32 passing for 315 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Artez Williams (Greenwood) tied the game, 7-7, after scooping up a fumble and returning it 84 yards for the touchdown in the first quarter.
The Indians totaled 306 yards of offense with Griggs completing 14-of-31 passing for 137 yards and a touchdown with 2 interceptions. Freshman Isaiah Howard (Ripely) hauled in 5 catches for 91 yards while five different players combined to rush for 169 yards on 43 carries.
Defensively, the Indians saw the Rangers rack up 593 yards of total offense.
Eric Hunt (Macon) had 12 tackles with Quinn Tiggs (Tupelo) adding 9 solo tackles and Daniel Johnson (Coldwater) recording 8 solo stops. Cartin McBride (Calhoun City) and Tyler Logan (West Point) each had a sack on the night.
Things won't get easier for the Indians as they hit the road to face back-to-back defending national champion East Mississippi for the Lions' Homecoming on Saturday. The No. 7 Lions manhandled Northeast, 56-7, on Thursday to improve to 3-1 and 2-0 in the North.
Kickoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. from Scooba.
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