Indians' upset bid comes up short against No. 14 Co-Lin


Indians' upset bid comes up short against No. 14 Co-Lin
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com



FULTON, MS -- An injury-riddled Itawamba Community College football team found itself in prime position to upset No. 14 Copiah-Lincoln Community College on Thursday, but turnovers proved to be the Indians' undoing in their 17-14 loss to the Wolfpack.

"We played much better than we have the past few weeks, but the bottom line is we still didn't win the ballgame," said ICC head football coach Jon Williams. "I think this is a game we could have won and should have won, but we didn't make enough plays."

Down by three midway through the fourth quarter, the Indians (3-3, 1-2 MACJC North) saw the Wolfpack (5-1, 3-0 MACJC South) grab their third of four interceptions of the night in the end zone to negate the potential game-winning scoring threat.

The Indian defense stood strong to give the offense one final possession with 44.2 seconds left in the game, but an interception on a desperation fourth down pass allowed Co-Lin to kneel its way to the 17-14 non-division victory.

Brandon Smith (Aberdeen) put ICC on the board first with a 15-yard fumble return for a touchdown, but Co-Lin answered with a 51-yard interception return to tie the game 7-7 with 14:01 left in the second quarter. The Indians regained the lead on a 51-yard touchdown pass from Griff Loftis (Mooreville) to Sanford Seay (Albany, GA) before the Wolfpack found another answer on a 43-yard scoring run to send the game to a 14-14 at the half.

The lone score of the second half came on an eventual game-winning 24-yard field goal at the 12:52 mark of the fourth quarter.

The Indians totaled 363 yards of offense (77 rushing, 286 passing) as Loftis finished the night 31-of-47 for 286 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions with Seay hauling in three passes for 88 yards and a score along with Tobias Lofton (Forest) rushing for 45 yards on 5 carries.

"We struggled to get anything going through our running game and that made us too one-dimensional which made things extremely easy on Co-Lin's defense," said Williams.

Defensively, ICC allowed 261 yards (90 rushing, 171 passing) with Shawn Goree (Shannon) leading the way with 10 tackles with one tackle for loss, a sack, and a fumble recovery. Xavier Walker (Duluth, GA) and Terrell Pinson (Tupelo) each had an interception.

"The defense played well and the offense didn't play well enough and that's been the story of this three-game stretch," said Williams. "We've got to make changes and move on because it doesn't get any easier."

The Indians will look to break their three-game losing skid as they re-enter North Division play against Coahoma Community College (1-5, 0-3 MACJC North) next Thursday at Eaton Field.

"I hope our players can see what needs to be done to finish strong," Williams said. "I feel like we have players with the type of character that will fight to the very end to turn things around, but we'll find out when Coahoma comes to town."

The Tigers come to Fulton on a two-game losing streak of after dropping a 21-17 decision in the final seconds of the game to Northeast Mississippi Community College.