Trojans Head to Hinds Tonight

By Mark H. Stowers

Still seeking that first win of the MACCC season, the Mississippi Delta Community College Trojans (0-3, 0-2 MACCC North) will be on the road taking on the Hinds Community College Eagles in Raymond tonight. With kickoff set for 6:30 p.m., the Trojans are looking to keep improving and finally put a W on their side of the scoreboard. Head Coach Ernest Jones will have backup sophomore quarterback Evans Schippers under center after a leg injury to starter Caden Clark took him out of the game and he's still on the sidelines. He was 12-for-18 for 84 yards in last week's loss at Northeast. 

"He did an admirable job last week but he's very capable," Coach Jones said. 

Coach Jones knows that Hinds (2-1, 1-0 MACCC South) presents a challenge for his Trojans - on both sides of the ball.

"They are physical and they run the ball and they have an athletic quarterback (Jaylon Ruffin) who is a dual-threat," Coach Jones explained. "We'll have to wrap a fence around him or we'll have problems. He can run and throw and they have three running backs - one can run, one can catch and one can run and catch."

Defensively, the Eagles "have the best tackle and best linebacker in the league. Those guys will hit you and put you on your back real fast. They are real physical on defense and will play a lot of man-to-man. They are well coached. You better know where linebacker #11 (Jermar McCarter) and #90 (Micah Hampton) are. They are the real deal. But we'll put a team out there that we think can play with them and call some plays that we think will work. We are definitely giong to know where they are on every snap. They are exciting to watch and I wish we had them on our team. With their man-to-man defense, they are forcing you to get the ball out of your hands quickly."

The game plan, "We're going to run our offense and try to stay away from #11 and #90 as often as we can. We feel like if we can limit the big plays and limit the missed tackles, we feel like we can play with these guys. But they create a lot of big plays because that quarterback scrambles and runs and throws. When their offense breaks down, they turn it into a big play."

He noted the Trojans have come along way this season.

"We got better from week one to week two and week two to week three and we've got to put it all together. I challenged them to be able to put us in the game coming out of the locker room at halftime, and they did that. We got them to turn the ball over and stopped them on third down. We moved the ball up the field and got a score, we've got to keep getting better from week to week to week," Coach Jones said. 

The defense has continued to improve and Coach Jones pointed out three starters - Mincor Miner IV, Jaquian Payton and Lacoyrius Branch. 

They were playing lights out on the back end and our defensive end, (Za'Bauri) Chandler, almost had an interception. He batted the ball down but it went right back to the quarterback," Coach Jones said. "He got a couple of TFLs and a sack."

Even with the bright spots, including the running game, Coach Jones is still looking for a real win not a moral one.

"Chance Ross ran the ball well and popped a couple and our o-line blocked better but we lost. I'm a winner or a loser. But we lost. We're 0-3. On paper and on film you saw a better football team out there but it wasn't good enough to win the game."