In the inaugural battle of the JUCO Johnson Family game, Tre’Shun Johnson’s Coahoma Tigers (3-0, 1-0) got the best of dad’s Mississippi Delta Community College Trojans (0-3, 0-1) last Thursday, 47-10. The Trojans will hit the road this week looking for their first win of the season at Northeast Community College (1-2). Northeast won their opener at Hinds, 20-3 but have dropped their last two games – a 20-13 home loss to Pearl River and a road loss in overtime to Itawamba, 28-27. The Tigers will be celebrating homecoming and Coach Johnson is focused on the Trojans and not so much the Tigers.
“We’re going to keep working on us,” Coach Johnson said. “At this point in the season, we want to work on ourselves. It’s not about Northeast, it’s about us steadily improving. It’s a process that you have to go through. A diamond doesn’t come out of a diamond. We haven’t given up. It’s a long season and as you can see, each game we’re getting better in each phase. When you’re playing a lot of freshmen like we’re doing, everything is important and we are trying to maximize our reps.”
Coach Johnson has had several championship teams on the high school level and knows it’s a process to get the Trojans built into a fundamental winner.
“The sky’s the limit. We can’t go anywhere but up. Northeast will be a formidable opponent. It’s their homecoming and they’ll be jacked up,” he said.
In last week’s game, the Trojans fell behind early when CCC scored early on a 10-yard TD pass but missed their PAT for a 6-0 lead with 10:50 left in the first. The Trojans would answer with a 13-play, 47-yard drive that produced a Davon Klein 36-yard field goal, his first of the season. CCC scored again in the first quarter on a two-yard TD run. The PAT made it 13-3 in favor of the Tigers.
CCC scored in the second quarter on an eight-yard TD pass capping a three-play, 37-yard drive after the first of three Caleb Parten interceptions. Behind 20-3, the Trojans put together a five-play, 75-yard TD drive capped by a Parten 10-yard pass to Davon Liddell. The PAT made it 20-10 in favor of the Tigers. CCC put another TD on the board with a pick-six 65-yard TD interception to put the Tigers up 27-10 at the half.
The Tigers would put up three more scores in the second half – a nine-yard TD pass, a 43-yard TD pass and a one-yard TD run. The Tigers hit the first two PATs but missed the last for the final 47-10 win.
Coach Johnson saw improvement despite the loss.
“We’re getting better every game,” Coach Johnson said. “I’m optimistic. We realize what we have to do. We have to get our running game on track and the kids are still enthused about it. We haven’t lost a player yet. We are heading in the right direction. You can’t get instant gratification in this sport. You’ve got to work and get it done.”
Game time at Northeast Community College is 7:00 p.m. and can be found online at: https://nemcctv.com/blackchannel.
