Indians drop thriller at Gulf Coast, 42-41

PERKINSTON, Miss. – Trailing by 21 points, a fourth quarter rally came up one play short ICC's 42-41 season-opening loss at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.

The Indians (0-1) scored 20 unanswered points on a pair of touchdown tosses from Dan Ellington (Olive Branch) to Terry Williams (Southaven) for 11 and 42 yards before Ellington scored on a 1-yard sneak as time expired to make it a 42-41 contest in favor of the Bulldogs.

Without hesitation, Coach Sean Cannon opted to go for the win and kept the offense on the field but Ellington's pass was deflected at the last second to preserve the one-point victory for the Bulldogs.

Ellington finished the game 29 of 53 for 521 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 16 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries.

After the Bulldogs blocked a 21-yard field goal attempt, the Indians opened the game's scoring with a 21-yard pass from Ellington to Malik Honeycutt (Tallahassee, Fla.) for the lone touchdown of the first quarter.

Gulf Coast (1-0) countered with a pair of touchdown runs by Deandre Torrey, set up by a fumble at the four-yard line, and Ohio State transfer Torrance Gibson to take a 14-7 advantage. Ellington found Williams on a 13-yard scoring toss to tie the game before Torrey scored from 18 yards out to give the Bulldogs a 21-14 lead midway through the second quarter.

The Indians lost two fumbles, both resulting in touchdowns for the Bulldogs.

ICC answered with a 1-yard plunge into end zone by Ellington, but Gulf Coast got back-to-back rushing touchdowns from Torrey and Gibson to take a halftime 35-21 lead.

Torrey continued his impressive evening for the Bulldogs with a 46-yard touchdown run to put Gulf Coast up 21 with 12:59 left in the third quarter. Ellington and the Indians answered back with an 11-yard pass to Williams to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 42-28 by the end of the quarter.

The Indians answered quickly in the fourth quarter when Ellington found Williams for the duos third touchdown on the night with a 58-yard scoring strike with 12:48 left in the final frame and set ICC up for its late-game heroics.

Williams had 213 yards and three touchdowns on 10 catches.

Offensively, the Indians totaled 582 yards of offense (521 passing; 61 rushing) under the direction of first-year offensive coordinator Chad Cook.

Kadarius Forside (West Point) rushed for 44 yards on 10 carries. Honeycutt caught 7 passes for 140 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, ICC gave up 453 yards to the Bulldogs.

Quinshay Heard (Hamilton) led the Indians with 9 tackles with 1 tackle for a loss of three yards. A'Tarius Moore (Calhoun City) and Que Lott (Grenada) each had 7 tackles.

Caleb Comer (Caledonia) went 5 of 5 on extra points.

ICC will be back in action for its home opener Thursday against Hinds Community College. Kickoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. at Eaton Field. The game will be available on LetsGoICCTV.com/RED and FM 95 Sports (95.7 FM, Amory).

The Eagles faced No. 6 Northwest Mississippi Community College in a game that was suspended at the start of the fourth quarter after a second power outage that lasted over an hour in Senatobia.

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

Other MACJC Scores

Coahoma 35  Southwest 20
Co-Lin 31  Mississippi Delta 6
No. 2 East Mississippi 47  Jones County 34
Holmes 49  East Central 14
Pearl River 27  No. 9 Northeast 21
No. 6 Northwest 0  Hinds 0 - suspended at the start of the fourth quarter