Indians fall to No. 4 East Mississippi in North Division opener

The ICC Indians hit the road looking for their first win of the season against No. 4 East Mississippi in the opening game of MACJC North play, but returned to Fulton with a 48-7 loss to the Lions.

The Lions (4-0, 2-0 MACJC North) jumped out to a 38-0 lead at the break before the Indians (0-4, 0-1 MACJC North) answered in the third quarter on a Darren Daniel 4-yard touchdown.

"We challenged the guys at halftime to play with pride and fight to the end," said ICC head football coach Jon Williams. "I feel like the guys did that all the way to the end against a very good football team."

ICC forced two EMCC turnovers while playing turnover-free football in the loss.

"(East Mississippi) might be the best team in the state and in the nation," said Williams. "They can do what they want when they want on offense and can take away every aspect of your offense with a very physical and fast defense."

Sophomore Canden Dallas got his first start of the season as quarterback and complete 4-of-11 passing for 33 yards while rushing for 14 yards.

Darren Daniel shared snaps with Dallas throughout the contest and completed 1-of-5 for 8 yards with 20 yards rushing and one touchdown on 5 carries. 

The Indians rushed for 147 yards with Keon McGaughy rushing for 54 yards on 17 carries, DeShawn McGaughy added 35 and Demarius Howard finished with 12 yards.

East Mississippi quarterback Bo Wallace completed 28-of-37 passing for 330 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions with Ashton Ballard picking off his fourth pass of the season.

The Indians will look to get in the win column first time this season when they host Mississippi Delta (0-4, 0-1 MACJC North) on Saturday for Homecoming.

"Mississippi Delta is a dangerous football team," said Williams. "They have athletes all over the field and normally play their best when they play us so we'll have to be ready for a hungry football team coming to town this weekend."

Kickoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. with the radio broadcast starting at 4:40 p.m. on WAFM 95.7 FM and online at www.fm95radio.com or www.iccms.edu.