From the frying pan into the fire – that’s the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference Athletics (MACCC) football schedule each week. Week one put the Mississippi Delta Community College Trojans on the road to face the then #14 team in the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) Jones College. The Trojans started strong but a penalty on an opening drive (after the Trojans blocked a Bobcat punt) took the steam out of the offense. A missed field goal afterwards put the young team on its heels a bit.
Jones is now up to #11 nationally after taking the Trojans down, 41-9. At press time, the Trojans are hosting Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College who came into the pre-season ranked #12 but beat #2 ranked East Mississippi and moved up to #6. A tough row to hoe indeed but Trojan Head Coach Tavares Johnson wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I told the guys, ‘everybody claims they want to be the best. But in order to be the best, you got to play the best. And in order to play the best, you got to step between them white lines and strap it on.’ That's what we're doing. And we're just going to ball and continue to get better and let you spoil the league,” Coach Johnson said.
Even with the opening game loss, the Trojans are looking better and are much improved. The running game racked up 183 yards on the ground as Trevon Brown led the way with 64 yards and a TD on 13 carries.
“The guys ran hard. I think we collaborated. That was from the whole offense,” Coach Johnson said.
Freshman Cedric Hunt was 1-for-2 on field goals, missing a 32-yarder but nailing a 38-yarder. The key to this season’s vast improvement is long-snapper Alex Chamblee whose crisp snaps gave Hunt the foundation for success. His first kick sailed wide right and Coach Johnson asked him about it.
“‘Because I was nervous. And you know what? That sums it up. He's a true freshman. That sums up the feeling of all my young babies out there. The cardiac kids. Just send them all up,” Coach Johnson said. “We're not where we were last year. We're not where we want to be. But we're not where we were last year. We've got a bunch of kids out here fighting every single play. We've just got to maintain our health and our depth and we're going to be fine. I like these games, these tough games. It makes things a little bit easier because you're playing the best right now.”
Cardiac Kids taking on weekly nationally ranked teams. Growing up fast in the MACCC.
