No. 19 Indians face tough road test at No. 3 Co-Lin to open season
The No. 19 Itawamba Community College football team will kick-off its 2014 season with a tough test on the road as they hit the road to face the third-ranked Copiah-Lincoln Community College Wolves on Thursday.
No. 19 Indians face tough road test at No. 3 Co-Lin to open season
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com
FULTON, MS – The No. 19 Itawamba Community College football team will kick-off its 2014 season with a tough test on the road as they hit the road to face the third-ranked Copiah-Lincoln Community College Wolves on Thursday.
"Anytime you go on the road in the league it's tough to win," said first-year head coach Sean Cannon. "We went down there last season and came back with a pretty humbling loss. Hopefully our sophomores remember how it felt walking off their field with a loss and come ready for a battle on Thursday."
Last season, Co-Lin snapped the Indians five-game winning streak with a convincing 48-7 win in Wesson.
The Indians' youthful offensive line will face one of its toughest test of the season when they line up against 2013 NJCAA All-American and NJCAA Defensive Player of the Year Demond Tucker and the Wolves defensive front.
"Co-Lin probably had the best defensive front in the nation last season and they are bringing a lot of those guys back this season," said Cannon. "It's going to be a really tough test for some of our guys getting their first collegiate start, but I feel like we've got a good bunch of guys up front that are welcoming the challenge."
Offensively, ICC will return seven starters from last season's 7-4 squad and features freshmen D'Andre Belton (Ridgeway, SC), Kwadra Griggs (Greenwood), and Jesse Hosket (French Camp) battling for the starting job heading into Thursday's season opener.
"I feel like we've got three very capable quarterbacks," Cannon said. "They've been working hard on learning the offense and each bring something unique to the offense when they are on the field."
The Indians also return seven starters on the defensive side of the ball. Sophomore defensive ends Xavier Pegues (Oxford) and Larry Jefferson (Banneker, GA) will anchor defensive line while fellow sophomore defensive backs Quinton Lane (Ackerman) and Sharone Wright (Houston) along with linebacker Devan Gilleylen (Shannon) will look to help keep Cannon's defense ranked amongst the best in the nation this season.
"We got some pretty solid guys coming back and we've got some new faces in some key places on defense," commented Cannon. "The guys we do have coming back had solid years last season and hopefully their experience will help bring along the younger guys in a hurry."
In total, 46 players will playing in their first college football game when the Indians take the field on Thursday.
"That's the nature of the beast when you only have these guys for two seasons," said Cannon. "As coaches, it's our jobs to have these young guys ready to go when those lights come on Thursday night."
Kick-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the game can be heard on WAFM 95.7 FM (Amory) starting at 6:40 p.m.
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