WESSON — The skies gave the Southwest Mississippi Community College Bears all the rain they could handle, but the Bears gave away Thursday night’s game against Copiah-Lincoln Community College.
Two Bear turnovers led directly to 14 points for the Wolfpack. The early mistakes put Southwest behind, and the Bears weren’t able to slog out any points in their 21-0 loss.
While wading to three first-half first downs Southwest gave the Wolfpack two gift-wrapped scoring chances.
Punt returner Robert Jordan tried to repeat his effort from the season opener when he returned a punt for a touchdown. It didn’t work as well in the rain.
The ball had rolled five yards over the wet field before Jordan first laid hands on it. He initially juggled the ball, but after he gained control, the coverage reached him and jarred the ball loose.
Co-Lin recovered and returned the ball to its 2-yard line and scored two plays later to go up 7-0.
In the second quarter, Southwest lined up to punt from their 33-yard line. The snap bounced at punter Les Mulkey’s feet and skidded between his legs. Co-Lin’s Darron Dampier outraced Mulkey for the ball, tapped it forward and picked it up. Dampier wasn’t touched until he had scored to make it 14-0.
“The fumbled punt return gave them a touchdown,” Southwest head coach Charles Anthony said. “We fumbled our own snap to give them a touchdown.
“You can’t do that and win.”
The other half of the problem was being kept off the scoreboard.
Quarterback E.J. Legree replaced Walter Mason, who had started the first two games of the season. Legree was greeted by a downpour, a 7-0 deficit, and in Anthony’s opinion, a host of bad situations to sort through.
It took almost a quarter for the Bears to gain a first down and their only sniff of the red zone came off a blocked punt, but Legree tossed an interception to end that scoring chance.
“He struggled,” Anthony said. “We had bad snaps that put him in bad situations and we weren’t real good protection-wise.”
The offense’s longest play of the night was a pass lobbed over a cornerback to Jamaal Jackson. Jackson took it up the sideline for a 27-yard gain, but the Bears were still in their own territory on the 44-yard line. Two straight losses put an end to that drive and Dampier’s recovery capped it off.
While the offense looked stuck, the defense was able to hold Co-Lin whenever the Wolfpack had a full field to traverse. The only touchdown the defense gave up came near the end of the fourth quarter when the Bears gave the Wolfpack the ball in Southwest territory.
In eight plays, the Wolfpack went 43 yards to score its third touchdown of the game on a Kentrell Cleveland 16-yard run.
Co-Lin moved the ball when it needed to and had more chances to put points on the scoreboard, but missed two field goals.
The Bears blocked one attempt from 38 yards. Co-Lin missed a 37-yarder right before halftime.
The blocked field goal went along with a blocked punt to at least give Southwest some positives on special teams. In the third quarter both teams blocked each other’s punts on successive series, but it turned out better for the Bears.
On Southwest’s first possession of the second half the Bears didn’t convert on third-and-4 and lined up to punt.
Mulkey punted right into a Co-Lin defender. The ball bounced back to Mulkey, who took off to the left with the ball.
A Co-Lin defender grabbed ahold of Southwest’s punter who pitched the ball to Derrick Ross. Ross finished off the 18-yard return to give the Bears a first down.
Southwest didn’t capitalize on the second chance past midfield and punted four downs later.
Co-Lin went three-and-out when the Bears stopped Preston Griffith for a loss on third-and-two.
Will Thibodeaux, Co-Lin’s punter, bobbled the ball when he went to turn the ball over to kick it. The hiccup added another step to his approach and the Southwest rush reached him in a group to block the punt.
Southwest hosts East Central Thursday at 7 p.m.
