SENATOBIA – After a week off, the Northwest Mississippi Community College football team (5-1, 2-1) woke up their passing game on the way to a 33-13 win over Southwest Mississippi Community College (2-4, 1-2) on Thursday night at Bobby Franklin Field.
"We got some explosive plays in the pass game," Head Coach Benjy Parker said. "That's what got us over the hump, and we got to where we could run it a little bit in the second half. I thought we got away from the run a little too much there but a couple of those passes hit and Keon had a good night so that was the difference."
The Rangers saw season highs from both Neko Fann who had his first career 300 yard passing game and from Keon Hutchins who put his name in the Northwest record books with his first career 200 yard receiving game while also pulling in three touchdowns, becoming the first Ranger to accomplish the feat since D.T. Sheffield had the same touchdown tally against Coahoma in October of 2022.
Hutchins said he and Fann have been putting in work after practice to improve on their chemistry, and it showed.
"Coach Hill was telling me that I need to get better at certain things and me and Neko started staying after practice to better our connection and it paid off this week."
Defense is what got the game started for the Rangers as they forced three-and-outs on the opening two drives for the Bears. The Rangers also had trouble getting their offense going though, and after a third punt by Southwest, they found themselves backed up to their own nine-yard line.
That was when the magic began.
Neko Fann found Keon Hutchins on second-and-ten for a 58-yard completion and one play later hooked up with his favorite target of the game for a 24-yard touchdown pass to break the seal on the scoreboard, putting Northwest up 7-0 with 27 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Bears attempted to answer back but stalled out at the Northwest 35-yard line when instead of attempting what would have been a long field goal, went for it on fourth-and-six. The Rangers forced an incompletion that ended the drive.
Both punters traded kicks on the next two possessions, but Southwest saw a poor effort from Alan Long give the Rangers the ball at the 38-yard line setting up the longest play from scrimmage for Northwest on the night.
Fann looked back to Hutchins on the first play from scrimmage and linked up on a long pass down the Bears sideline that the sophomore wideout took to the house for his second score of the night, making it 14-0 with 4:15 left in the half.
Northwest picked up one more opportunity just after the two-minute timeout. It was almost déjà vu for the Rangers when Fann once again hooked up with Hutchins for a second 62-yard touchdown, making several Bears miss after a short pass to the flat and picked up his third touchdown of the game to make it 21-0.
Hutchins stacked up 219 yards receiving in the first half and the passing game totaled 282 yards, making up for a rushing attack that had a rare half where they couldn't get it going with negative yards on the ground in the first half. Hutchins said it felt good to help pick up their teammates who have carried so much of the load this season.
"It feels really good because they put it on the line for us every week at practice, so I feel like they appreciate us helping them out instead of having to run the ball all the time and beat up their bodies."
Southwest kept the game from getting out of hand going into the half with a quick three play, 75-yard drive that saw Keena Galloway take a 45-yard pass to the endzone in the final minute to send the game into the half up 21-7.
The second half picked up with the Rangers receiving the kickoff and a brilliant return set them up at the 45-yard line. After just two-and-a-half minutes, Fann once again marched them down the field for a fourth score, this time getting MJ Johnson involved with an 11-yard strike to the right corner of the endzone to make it 28-7 with 12 minutes left in the third.
Those would be the final points for either team scored outside of field goals or defense for the final 27 minutes.
The Bears went nine-plays on their next drive but only came away with a 50-yard field goal from Sergio Neyra to close the gap to 28-10 on what was a career long for the Southwest kicker.
Northwest stalled out on the ensuing drive and instead of going for it on fourth down from the Bears side of the 50, the Rangers sent out Hayden Wolfe who's 42-yard punt was downed at the 1-yard line. It was the third time this season that Wolfe has accomplished that feat.
It also set up the second safety of the year for the Ranger defense when Rase Jones took down Chris Hunter in the paint to extend the Ranger lead to 30-10.
The game went to the fourth quarter at that same score but just a few minutes into the fourth, Neyra added three more points to the Bears score when his 45-yard field goal just cleared the crossbar to make it a 30-13.
Both teams stalled on their next drives with the Northwest defense again standing tall and holding Southwest on a fourth-and-one from the 49-yard line with eight minutes to go, essentially icing the game and setting up the final points of the contest when Wolfe hit his second 40-plus yard field goal of the year with 3:24 remaining to push the lead back to 20 at 33-13.
One final drive for the Bears would crash out at the 10-yard line and a rushed field goal attempt by Neyra missed wide left giving the Rangers the ball and the chance to kneel out the game for their fifth win of the season.
The win was big for the Rangers coming out of the bye week and gives them a three-game winning streak heading into homecoming and Parker said it is important for the team to stay focused going into a big game with Mississippi Delta Community College.
"Any time you can win a game that helps with momentum, but we have to have a good week with homecoming coming up this week and fall break. Sometimes you have to tell your team to enjoy everything but not get distracted by the good times and still do it the right way. To handle it like a pro if you will."
Fann finished the game with his best passing performance to date, throwing for 334 yards and four touchdowns with zero interceptions. Aiden Glover did participate on one drive going 2-3 for five yards.
Hutchins became the first Ranger to have more than 210 yards in a game since 2009, finishing the night with six receptions for 216 yards which is third most all-time in a Northwest uniform, only trialing Michael Lindsey's 234 against Gulf Coast in 2009 and Eric Smith's 269 against Copiah-Lincoln in 1992.
Reed Jesiolowski was the second leading receiver with three receptions for 38 yards and MJ Johnson finished with two receptions for 30 yards and a touchdown.
The Northwest rushing game didn't get going until the second half when Julius Pope found his groove, finishing the night with 64 yards on ten carries. No other Ranger had more than Aidan Glover's 16 yards on four carries.
Jones led the defensive effort with six solo tackles and one assisted tackle, adding two tackles for a loss and one pass breakup on the night. Jerry Wall III finished with one sack and five total tackles and Antione Keefer Jr. added a sack as well. The Rangers tallied eleven tackles for a loss in the game for 30 yards combined.
Northwest is back home on October 16th when they host MDCC (0-6, 0-3) for homecoming with kickoff set for 7:00 pm. The game will be streamed online at nwccrangers.com/watch with pregame beginning at 6:30 with Tyler Springs and Russell Copeland on the call.
More information on the Northwest football team can be found at nwccrangers.com or by following along on Ranger social media accounts.
