National and state titles were on the line at MGCCC. Here’s how it was decided.
Northwest Mississippi Community College football coach Benjy Parker traveled home to Senatobia Saturday night with a pair of additions for the trophy cabinet — a state title and a national championship.
The Rangers rolled over Mississippi Gulf Coast 40-13 in the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference title game at A.L. May Memorial Stadium in a contest that was also billed as the National Community College Football Championship.
The MACCC was the only system that played junior college football this fall, and Parker’s Rangers proved to be the last team standing.
“It feels great,” Parker said. “Everybody in our league had ups and downs with COVID, but everybody deserves a pat on the back in our whole league for battling and making it through the season. I’m just proud of us getting this win.”
MGCCC (5-1) rolled in as the defending national champion and the favorite on its home field, but it was Northwest (6-0) that was in control from the outset.
Gulf Coast out-gained NWCC 408-298, but the Rangers recovered four lost fumbles and Byron Pearson returned an interception 70 yards for a touchdown to put an exclamation point on the victory with 7:55 remaining.
The Northwest defensive front constantly put pressure on MGCCC quarterback Philip Short, sacking him five times and forcing three lost fumbles by the quarterback.
“That’s my fault,” MGCCC coach Jack Wright said. “There’s a lot of things we could have done to take pressure off the quarterback and slow the rush down, and we didn’t do it. We could have given our guys an edge coaching wise, and we didn’t.”
Against an MGCCC offensive line that ranks among the biggest on level, Parker admitted that even he was surprised to see his defensive front constantly harassing the quarterback.
“No, I didn’t see that coming because their offensive line has been strong all year long,” he said.
Short, a freshman, hit 18 of 36 passes for 322 yards and one interception. His top target was Jymetre Hester, who hauled in six passes for 153 yards.
While the turnovers piled up for Gulf Coast, Northwest didn’t give the ball away once.
NWCC quarterback Michael Hiers completed 16 of 29 passes for 213 yards and one touchdown.
Sophomore Jaquerrious Williams led the Rangers on the ground, carrying 24 times for 109 yards and a TD.
There was a controversial close to the first half when Short lofted a pass high for Hester on what appeared to be a 56-yard touchdown toss for the Bulldogs on the final play of the second quarter.
The officiating crew quickly put a halt to that celebration when they stepped in and ruled that Hester fumbled the ball before he crossed the goal line and Northwest recovered the ball in the end zone, causing a touchback ruling.
It was a chaotic scene with both teams on the field — Northwest headed to the locker room and the MGCCC bench pleading for referees to reconsider their ruling.
The call stood and Northwest led 16-0 at the half.
“I’ve seen Hester make those type of plays over the course of the years,” Wright said. “I thought he scored. I wasn’t surprised either. That’s what he does. I wasn’t down there. I was on the other end and didn’t have a good view of it.
“I just have to trust other peoples’ eyeballs on that. I didn’t see the play.”
The win by the Rangers ended a 17-game winning streak by MGCCC.
“(Northwest was) obviously were ready to play,” Wright said. “I felt like at the beginning maybe we were lacking something. Not effort, not energy by the kids. Maybe some kind of edge from the coaching staff. They definitely got a quick jump on us.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2020 at 11:56 PM.
