SENATOBIA – The #3 Northwest Mississippi Community College football team never trailed on Thursday night in their home opening victory over East Central Community College, picking up a 29-10 win in front of a sell-out crowd at Bobby Franklin Field.

The Rangers opened the scoring on their first possession after a 13-play six-minute drive took them 81 yards, capped off with a 21-yard run by Julius Pope to make it 7-0.

Northwest's defense forced a three-and-out on the next drive, but a fumble kept the Rangers from getting anything out of the stop. However, the defense forced a second three-and-out from the Warriors, leading to a nine-play, 60-yard drive which resulted in Hayden Wolfe's 51-yard field goal to push the lead to 10-0.

East Central took the next kickoff and was able to grind out a 14-play drive until the NWCC defense stopped them at the edge of the redzone, holding the Warriors to a field goal to make it 10-3.

The Rangers picked up an answer on their next drive when Wolfe hit his second field goal of the game, this time from 42 yards out, to bring the lead back to double digits with 3:35 left in the first half and the first 30 minutes would come to a close without any changes in the score.

Both defenses took over to start the second half and neither offense put together a drive longer than five plays until the Rangers started at their own 28-yard line with 6:13 to go in the third quarter and took the ball 72 yards in seven plays with Aidan Glover finishing the drive with a 9-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 20-3, doing it in only 3 minutes thanks to a 49 yard completion to Britten Traylor that set NWCC up in the redzone.

The Warriors did pick up their first touchdown of the game on the next drive thanks to a 44-yard completion of their own but that would be the last time they were able to find the endzone in the game.
The same was not the case for NWCC.

Aidan Glover led the fastest scoring drive of the game for the Rangers on their first possession of the fourth quarter when he broke into the open field taking the ball 37 yards for the score after a muffed punt by the Warriors set up Northwest on the East Central 38-yard line.

From there the only offense for both teams came from the defense of the Rangers. With 4:33 left in the game, Jerry Wall III and Myles Miller met at the quarterback in the endzone to pick up the first safety of the season for Northwest and increase the lead to 29-10.

Northwest took over on their next possession after a punt by East Central and closed out the game on a 7-play drive that took up the final 4:27.

The Rangers dominated the statistical battle as a team, picking up 17 first downs to just 10 for East Central. They also held the Warriors to -29 rushing yards on 12 carries while carrying the ball 55 times themselves for 319 yards, averaging 5.8 yards per carry.

Northwest rarely had to pass the ball, only throwing it eleven times with five completions for 120 yards.

Defensively, NWCC held the Warriors to just 175 yards in the game, forcing eight punts and picking up five sacks.

After not having any rushers pass the century mark in the opening game at Pearl River, the Rangers had a pair on Thursday night. Pope led the team with 137 yards on 21 carries and one score and was joined by Glover who added 110 yards on nine carries and two scores. Glover currently leads the team in touchdowns with four in two games.

Three other rangers tallied carries with Quincy Phillips Jr carrying it nine times for 32 yards, Ja Keyes carrying it eight times for 22 yards, and Neko Fann going six times for 22 yards.
Fann also led the team in passing, going 4-9 for 71 yards. Glover completed one pass for 49 yards on two attempts.

The receptions were evenly distributed with Traylor leading the team with two for 56 yards and Keon Hutchins adding two receptions for 55 yards. Jamael Johnson added one reception for nine yards.

Marion Keyes led the team in tackles with seven, all solo. Wall III was just behind with five tackles including a sack and the safety, while Miles Miller had two sacks in his four tackles. Rase Jones, Charles Woodard, and T.J. Spann also registered at least a partial sack in the game.

Wolfe had two field goals on two attempts while also making all three of his PAT attempts.

Northwest heads back on the road next week when they travel to Scooba for a Thursday night game against East Mississippi Community College. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm with the pregame show on nwccrangers.com/watch at 6:30.