BOONEVILLE - It wasn't easy but it was a successful road trip for the #7 Northwest Mississippi Community College football team (4-1, 2-1) as they took down Northeast Mississippi Community College (3-2, 1-2) 34-27 on the strength of 17 unanswered points in the second half keyed by timely turnovers and clutch offense in the fourth quarter. 

It was a game where untimely turnovers and penalties kept the Rangers from taking advantage of a quick start but showed off the character and resolve of the roster from top to bottom. 

"We all knew we were the better team, we were just making mistakes," sophomore wide receiver Britten Traylor said. "Once we got past our mistakes, we all just wanted it. We all knew we could win, we just wanted to capitalize."

Early on, it seemed like Northwest was on their way to quick victory as they marched down the field on their first drive of the game on a 13-play, 5:19 minute drive to score a touchdown on a two-yard rush to put the Rangers up 7-0. 

Two plays later, Northeast gave six more points to the Rangers when Jeremiah Harrell threw a wild pass that ended up in the hands of Jovarious Lundy and the Rangers were up 14-0 in the blink of an eye with 8:51 left in the first quarter. 

Both defenses settled in with three-and-outs on the next two possessions for both the Tigers and the Rangers, but the momentum of the game would begin to swing at the end of the first when Northeast punted the ball and a muffed return was recovered by the Tigers at the 15-yard line putting NEMCC on the doorstep of the end zone with the quarter coming to a close. 

The Tigers converted on the opportunity when a three-yard touchdown pass from Harrell found JT Beasley to close the gap to 14-6, although Northeast failed on the point after to keep it at an eight point lead for the Rangers. 

Northwest had trouble getting their offense out of neutral but with six minutes to go, the Rangers did put themselves in scoring range after a 52-yard completion to Pope flipped the field and presented an opportunity for a 49-yard field goal. Hayden Wolfe had the leg on the attempt but it hit off of the left upright and the score remained at 14-6. 

That gave the ball to the Tigers at their own 32 yard line, and in just six plays they quickly turned the field around and Harrell completed his second touchdown pass of the night, finding Qua Middlebrooks on back-to-back completions, including a 32-yard score that brought the home side within a point at 14-13 with 4:15 remaining. 

Northwest again took the ball down the field to put themselves in scoring position, going 66 yards but they had to settle for a 30-yard field goal from Wolfe.

That left 1:47 on the clock and that was more than enough time for the Tigers to answer back. A good kickoff return gave Northeast the ball at the 49-yard line and, one play later, Middlebrooks and Harrell hooked up for a second time, this one going for 51 yards to give NEMCC their first lead of the game, heading into the halftime locker room up 20-17 with their first lead of the contest. 

The second half didn't make things much easier for the Rangers at the start. The opening drive for Northwest stalled out and Wolfe's punt was blocked by the Northeast special teams unit, returning it for 25 yards and a 27-17 lead with 10:48 to go in the quarter. 

"We didn't play our best game and some of that had to do with Northeast," Head Coach Benjy Parker said. "It was a heck of a game and a lot of credit goes to Northeast and their players. They did a heck of a job."

The Rangers made a quarterback change midway through the third quarter when Aidan Glover made his way out and sparked the longest drive in terms of plays for the Northwest offense on the night, taking them 14 plays and another 66-yards to the 24-yard line of Northeast and setting up the second made field goal for Wolfe on the night, this time from 41-yards to give the Rangers a boost on the sidelines going into the fourth quarter. 

After that, the game took a turn to the wild side. 

With 11:49 to go, Northwest got the ball on the 20-yard line and Glover used his legs and the hands of Britten Traylor to march the ball to paydirt, finishing it off with a 16-yard rush to give the Rangers a chance to tie the game up going into the final eight minutes. Wolfe's PAT was off target, though, and the Tigers remained in front by a single point at 27-26. 

The drive included a jaw-dropping one-handed catch by Traylor as a part of two receptions on back to back plays to help flip the field. 

"Practice how you play," Traylor said of coming up with the big plays on what was a career night for him. "I just went hard, focused on the ball and I caught it. (Aiden) threw a good pass."

A three-and-out from Northeast gave the ball back to the Rangers with 6:12 to go, but they also struggled to get the offense into gear and were forced into a punt, and this time it was the Tigers who couldn't get out of the way, deflecting the ball off of the heel of Trevor Walton. DJ Woods jumped on it just as it was about to make it out of bounds to give possession back to the Rangers. 

Hustle plays like that were something that Traylor said were key in what was an all around team win. 

"It motivates us and lets us know that the whole team wants to win and to just keep fighting," he said. "They gave us the energy."

Penalties slowed down the Northwest attack again though and another Wolfe field goal attempt was the result, this time from 42-yards and the sophomore was off the mark to the left. 

One more chance was given to the Rangers on the next play as fate seemed to intervene again. Harrell kept the ball on a run to his right and Jerry Wall III forced a fumble at the Tiger's 31-yard line which was picked up by Jakwon Morris to give NWCC a third chance to take the lead. 

This one wasn't squandered. Pope and Jarvis Durr took the load of the carries as the offensive line led the way on a seven-play 31-yard drive that was capped off with a Durr touchdown from 1-yard out with just nine seconds on the clock to ice the game and give the Rangers the come-from-behind win 34-27. 

"The ball bounced our way and we capitalized when we got it back," Parker said of the final push. "We were fortunate there but a credit to our guys too. They never quit and showed a lot of character."

Northwest was led by their two quarterbacks to a combined 24-45 night resulting in 309 yards through the air. Neko Fann threw the ball for 17 completions and 215 yards while Glover closed the game with seven completions for 94 yards, adding another 81 yards on the ground on 13 attempts to lead all rushers in the game for the Rangers. 

All three touchdowns for the Rangers came on the ground, spread evenly with Glover picking up one, Pope picking up one to go with 11 carries for 56 yards, and Durr getting the game winner as one of his 11 carries for 43 yards. 

The receiving game was dominated by Traylor who became the first Ranger to pull in 10 receptions since D.T. Sheffield had 11 receptions in 2021 against East Mississippi Community College. Traylor ended the game with 133 yards, only 13 shy of the total receiving yards by Northeast in the game. 

Keon Hutchins added four receptions for 66 yards and Pope finished with three for 65 yards. 

Defensively it was another balanced attack for Northwest with no Ranger tallying more than six tackles in the game. Marion Keyes had six along with Rase Jones. Myles Miller was one of two to record a sack as a part of his five tackle night and was joined in the backfield by Nate Walker who picked up the other sack in the game. 

The Rangers held Northeast to only 194 yards of total offense, limiting them to 146 through the air and just 48 on the ground on 25 carries. NWCC on the other hand was six yards shy of a 500 yard game with 494 yards on 91 plays, averaging 5.1 yards per play. 

Northwest finished the game going 9-21 on third down conversions and did pick up points on four of their five trips to the red zone. They also converted on their first two-point try of the year on a completion from Glover to Reed Jesiolowski which made it 34-27 after the final touchdown. 

The win sends the Rangers into their bye week with momentum after back-to-back wins. They will be back in action on October 9th when they host Southwest Mississippi Community College at Bobby Franklin Field with kickoff scheduled for 7:00 pm. The game is Military and First Responders Night and is a planned white-out against the Bears. The game will be streamed online at nwccrangers.com/watch with Tyler Springs and Russell Copeland on the call beginning at 6:30 pm.