POPLARVILLE – The #3 Northwest Mississippi Community College football team scored 35 unanswered points against Pearl River Community College on Thursday night on their way to a 42-17 win to open the season on the road.
The offense was carried by the rushing attack which racked up 366 yards on the way to 522 total yards of offense and a defense that held the Bobcats to -5 yards on the ground on 22 attempts.
Pearl River did get off to a quick start in front of their home crowd when Reese Mooney connected with Kendrick Triplet for 31 yards with 11:37 to go in the first quarter only for the Rangers to answer back with a nine-play, 81 yard drive to even the game at 7-7 on a 11-yard touchdown run from
Julius Pope.
A field goal by the Bobcats gave them what would turn out to be their last lead of the game at 10-7 after a nine play drive stalled out at the Ranger goal line.
Neko Fann gave NWCC their first lead of the game with 51 seconds to go after a five-play drive was capped off on a 26-yard pass to Jesiolowski that started a surge of offense from the Rangers.
Just over two minutes later, the Rangers added to their lead, going up 21-10 on a three-yard run from
Julius Pope, who finished the game with two touchdowns and 89 yards on 16 carries and would add another 12 yards on one reception.
Northwest wasn't done in the first half either. The Rangers took the ball down the field in their two-minute drill, marching 69-yards on eight plays to set up
Jarvis Durr on a one-yard run to go into the half up 28-10.
Both teams settled into the third quarter and neither side was able to change the score until Aiden Glover took one of his seven carries for a 45-yard touchdown run to open the fourth quarter scoring with 13:56 to go on the longest scoring play of the game. Glover would finish the night tied for the team high in rushing with 93 yards on just seven carries.
The Rangers added one more score on their next drive when Glover picked up his second touchdown of the game on a 22-yard run to push the lead to 42-10 with 9:18 left.
Pearl River did score one more time on their next possession, going eight plays with a 24 yard pass to Triplet to close the gap to 42-17.
Northwest finished off the win with a six minute drive to milk the clock, running nine-plays, going 67 yards to ice the game and pick up their first win of the season.
Fann led the Rangers in passing, throwing for 138 yards and one touchdown, completing 10 of his 14 attempts. Glover added 18 yards, completing his only pass, but his biggest contribution came on the ground with 93 yards on seven carries and two touchdowns. Also leading the ground game was
Ja Keyes who had 93 yards on 17 carries. Durr also added 78 yards on 13 carries to go with his one touchdown.
Leading the receiving game, Jesiolowski had two receptions for 44 yards followed closely by
M.J. Johnson who had three receptions for 38 yards and
Keon Hutchins who had two receptions for 30 yards.
Johnathan Faulk led the Rangers in tackles in the game with six, including four solo tackles.
Dre Riley finished with a team high five solo tackles and Northwest saw
Nate Walker pick up his first sack of the year as a part of his four tackles. The team combined for six tackles-for-loss in the game.
As a team, the Rangers finished with 31 first downs, collecting 366 yards on 58 attempts on the ground and 156 totals yards in the air, going 11-15 with one touchdown and one interception. Northwest only punted the ball one time.
Time of possession for the Rangers was 29:49, converting on 3 of 10 third down attempts and scoring on four of their six trips to the red zone.
Hayden Wolfe did convert on all six of his PAT's.
The win snapped a two-year losing streak in openers for the Rangers.
The Rangers will be back in action on Thursday night when they make their home debut against East Central Community College. Kickoff is at 7:00 pm from Bobby Franklin Field in Senatobia. Broadcast will begin at 6:30 pm with the pregame show and can be found online at nwccrangers.com/watch with Tyler Springs and Russell Copeland on the call.
