Missed opportunities and mistakes cost the Southwest Mississippi Community College in a 27-0 loss in the division and home opener against Hinds Community College Thursday.
After a Hinds punt to the SMCC 4-yard-line, the Bears (1-2, 0-1) drove down to the Eagles (1-2, 1-0) 12-yard-line with just less than 11 minutes to play in the first half while trailing 7-0. Backup Casey Haygood, a Centreville Academy graduate, was in the game at quarterback, but the vast majority of yards on the drive came from running backs Nakia Trotter — a North Pike graduate — and Mikel Anderson.
SMCC kicker Casey Griffith was set to attempt a 29-yard field goal, but the Bears were flagged five yards for illegal substitution. The Bears were flagged another five yards for a false start and head coach Tucker Peavey called a timeout with 10:47 remaining in the second quarter.
The Bears went for it after the timeout and the Eagles intercepted a Haygood pass at their own 1-yard-line.
Peavey said a 39-yard field goal was out of Griffith’s range and he was not going to put him in a situation where he could not be successful. He saw mistakes as the big issue in the loss.
“We’re a bad football team on offense right now,” Peavey said. “We make too many mistakes and have too many unforced errors. When you do that, you’re never going to be successful on offense. We’ve got to coach them harder and see what the deal is. We’re certainly not telling them to jump offsides and that kind of thing. We’ve got to figure out why it happens and find a way to fix it.”
SMCC had another opportunity three plays after throwing the interception, as Bears linebacker Toby Jones recovered a fumble at the Hinds 8 with 10:01 to play in the first half.
Starter Neil McLaurin came back in the game for the Bears, but SMCC turned it over on downs with 8:07 remaining in the first half.
Trotter ran the ball to the Hinds 1 on the first play of the drive but a false start the next play moved the ball back to the 6. McLaurin lost three yards on a third down and one at the Hinds 5 and kept the ball on fourth down but did not gain any yardage.
Trotter finished the night with 18 carries for 98 yards.
“He did a great job punting the football,” Peavey said. “He did a good job on the one kickoff and, hopefully, he can do that consistently. That’s kind of what we’ve got to be everywhere is consistent at what we do. We do that kind of thing and we’ll have a chance to be a decent football team.”
SMCC also had a 10-yard holding penalty on Hinds’ first touchdown drive in the first quarter on a third down play giving the Eagles new life with a first down at their own 42.
As the Bears could not capitalize, Hinds threw a 7-yard touchdown pass with 3:44 remaining in the first half to take a 14-0 lead and put 13 more points on the board in the second half.
SMCC’s Xavier Harper intercepted a deep pass at the Bears 27 on the first play from scrimmage in the second half, but Trey Fleming lost a fumble six plays later after catching a McLaurin pass.
Ruben Maldonado, one of the Bears punters, averaged 46 yards on six punts. His longest punt was 57 yards coming in the first quarter. He also kicked the ball off to open the second half and got it into the end zone.
“He did a great job punting the football,” Peavey said. “He did a good job on the one kickoff and, hopefully, he can do that consistently. That’s kind of what we’ve got to be everywhere is consistent at what we do. We do that kind of thing and we’ll have a chance to be a decent football team.”
The Bears host Northeast Mississippi Community College in their final non-division matchup of the season at 7 p.m. Thursday, and Peavey remains optimistic going into the game.
“If everybody in our building is a competitor, they come back and they figure out, ‘Hey, I’ve got to do something to fix what the problem is,’ ” he said. “Certainly, that’s the objective. I’m not quitting, I’m not going to quit on them, and they better not quit on me either.”
HINDS 27, SMCC 0
Score by Quarters
1 2 3 4 Tot.
Hinds 7 7 3 10 — 27
SMCC 0 0 0 0 — 0
Scoring Summary
(First Quarter)
Hinds — Zanders 7 pass to Guidry (Cole kick), 6:25
(Second Quarter)
Hinds — Zanders 7 pass to Wallace (Cole kick), 3:44
(Third Quarter)
Hinds — Cole 21 FG, 4:28
(Fourth Quarter)
Hinds — Zanders 12 pass to Wallace (Cole kick), 9:24
Hinds — Cole 41 FG, 6:25
Team Statistics
Hinds SMCC
First Downs 23 11
Rushes-Yards 57-245 36-134
Passing Yards 152 120
Total Yards 397 254 Punts-Avg. 4-47 8-41
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 4-2
Penalties-Yds.
Individual Statistics
Rushing
Hinds — Zanders 13-85, Scott 20-84
SMCC — Trotter 18-98, Anderson 5-26.
Passing
Hinds — Zanders 14-25 for 152 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT.
SMCC — McLaurin 7-20 for 61 yards, 1 INT, Haygood 5-15 for 59 yards, 1 INT.
Receiving
Hinds — Guidry 5-56, 1 TD, McInnis 3-31.
SMCC — Fleming 5-59, Jackson 1-17.
