SENATOBIA — Thursday night’s game between the No. 10 Northwest Mississippi Community College Rangers and the No. 15 NECC Tigers was all about momentum. In the first half, it was the Tigers that had everything rolling in their favor. In the second half, it was the Rangers that couldn’t do anything wrong except score one final touchdown when they needed to the most.
The end result of the hard-fought MACJC North Division battle at Bobby Franklin Field was a 34-28 victory for the visiting Tigers, who improved to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in division play.
After falling behind 34-7 in the first half, the Rangers (3-2, 1-2) roared back to life in the third quarter by outscoring the Tigers 14-0. The Rangers made the game even more interesting midway through the fourth when quarterback Ryan Mossakowski found Darryl Kinkle for a 6-yard touchdown pass to make the score 34-28 in favor of the Tigers.
NWCC was able to hold the Tigers on their final two possessions of the game, while Mossakowski and the Ranger offense mounted a drive deep into NECC territory on their final possession. After a 26-yard pass from Mossakowski to Lance Ray got the Rangers down to the NECC 11-yard line with 40 seconds left, Mossakowski was unable to complete his next four passes to end the game. Two of the throws were delivered into the hands of Kinkle and Marcus Henry, but both receivers were unable to hang on to the football long enough to record the score. NECC got the ball back with seven seconds left, took one snap, took a knee and headed back to Booneville with its first win over NWCC in five seasons.
For NECC coach Ricky Smither, the dropped passes were welcomed, but not expected. (September 30, 2011, Page 6A)
