Indians rout Tigers, win sixth straight over rivals

Indians rout Tigers, win sixth straight over rivals
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com

BOONEVILLE, MS – In what eventually turned into a rout, Kwadra Griggs (Greenwood) threw two touchdown passes and rushed for another to help ICC beat Northeast Mississippi Community College 52-14 on Thursday.

Northeast (1-6, 1-4 MACJC North) set the tone early when Donta Armstrong faked a reverse and returned the opening kickoff to the six-yard line to help give the Tigers a 7-0 lead and stun the ICC faithful 40 second into the ballgame.

However, the rest of the night would belong to the Indians (4-3, 3-2 MACJC North).

ICC pulled even when Devin Bush (Jackson, TN) scored on an 8-yard touchdown run at the 2:52 mark of the first quarter and took a 14-7 lead when defensive lineman Quindarius Thagard (Luverne, AL) picked off an attempted screen pass to set up Griggs for an 1-yard leap into the end zone with 1:25 left in the quarter.

Griggs hit Grant Kimberlin (Southaven) for a 5-yard touchdown pass midway through the second quarter to give the Indians a 21-7 lead going into the break.

The Indians wasted little time taking control of the game in the second half.

Isaiah Howard (Ripley) hauled in a 15-yard touchdown pass from Griggs and Kadarius Forside (West Point) bulldozed his way through the Tigers' defensive line and rumbled 20 yards for the touchdown to give the Indians a commanding 35-7 lead in the first two minutes of the third quarter.

Griggs finished the night 18-of-32 with 2 touchdowns and 203 yards passing. Howard had 3 catches for 47 yards and a touchdown and Forside rushed for 53 yards and a touchdown on 7 carries.

Dontavis Bruce (Olive Branch) added scoring runs of 12 and 25 yards while Zach Ellis (Tupelo) booted a 27-yard field goal to help the Indians pull away for their sixth straight victory over rival Northeast.

Bruce rushed for 95 yards and 2 touchdowns on 10 carries.

Octavious Matthews (Stevenson, AL) paced the Indians ground attack with 101 yards on 15 carries as the Indians racked up 475 yards of total offense (274 rushing; 203 passing).

Defensively, the Indians intercepted four passes on the night and had 7 tackles for a loss of 32 yards to hold the Tigers to 207 yards of total offense (103 rushing; 104 passing).

Kendarius Hibbler (Tunica) had a pair of picks returned for a total of 30 yards along with Quinn Tiggs (Tupelo) intercepting a fake punt attempt and returned it 40 yards. Cartin McBride (Calhoun City) and Daniel Johnson (Coldwater) led the team with 10 tackles each.

ICC will look to close out division play in the final home game of the season against Mississippi Delta Community College on Sophomore Night on Thursday, October 15 with kickoff slated for 7:00 p.m. at Eaton Field.

For more information on ICC football, follow ICC Athletics on Twitter (@LetsGoICC).