ELLISVILLE — Holmes Community College used some last-second magic on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Reggie Hayes to Demarcus Johnson with seven seconds to go Thursday night as the Bulldogs knocked off Jones County Junior College 25-23.

Johnson’s touchdown capped a back-and-forth game that featured seven lead changes. Three of those came in the fourth quarter, and the last two were in the final 90 seconds.

Jesse Wilson threw a 90-yard touchdown pass to his former Warren Central teammate Shaun Walton early in the fourth quarter for an 18-17 lead.

Jones (1-1) went ahead 23-18 lead on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Stetson Bennett to Nataurean Watts with 1:26 to go.

Holmes (2-0) started its game-winning drive from the 20-yard line. Dylan Kelly had a run to the Holmes 46 before Jones was called for pass interference on second down, which moved the ball to the Jones 41-yard line.

Hayes threw a two-yard pass to Kelly to the 34, then into the hands of Johnson in the end zone with seven seconds left in the game. Connor McKay’s kick was good, and Holmes led 25-23.

Jones moved quickly to the Holmes 40, but on the next play Orinthia May sacked Bennett to run out the clock.

Northwest Mississippi 51, Southwest Mississippi 6

Former Warren Central star Demarcus Jones caught five passes for 145 yards, including an 86-yard touchdown in the second quarter, as Northwest Mississippi (2-0) blew out Southwest Mississippi (1-1).
A game-changing, 10-play, 95-yard drive helped the Rangers explode for 24 points in the second quarter to take a commanding 31-6 lead at halftime.

Chris Calvert scored his second touchdown of the game to make it 14-0, and he was followed by consecutive touchdown drives on a 2-yard run from Jacob Free and the 86-yard hookup from Robert Wilcke to Jones.

Another former Warren Central star, Walt Hopson, scored on a 75-yard interception return in the second half.

Hinds 31, Mississippi Delta 21

Hinds Community College moved its football home opener a dozen miles to the east, and added a positive number to the west side of its record.

Don Ragsdale ran for 82 yards and two touchdowns, Tylan Morton completed 22 of 33 passes for 249 yards and two more scores, and Hinds beat Mississippi Delta on Thursday night.

The game was played at Mississippi College, after heavy rains from Tropical Storm Gordon left Hinds’ home field in an unplayable state. Hinds (1-1) made itself right at home on the artificial surface at Robinson-Hale Stadium, however.

Ragsdale scored on runs of 6 and 5 yards in the first quarter to stake the Eagles to a 14-0 lead. Morton then threw touchdown passes of 11 yards to David Abney and 28 yards to Eric Clark to make it 28-0 midway through the third quarter.

Carson Flumm closed out the scoring with a 22-yard field goal with 9:37 left in the game.

Amos Robinson had two interceptions, Isaiah Latham had one, and the Hinds defense totaled five takeaways in all.

Hinds will next face Jones County Junior College next Thursday at 6:30 p.m. on the Raymond campus.

East Mississippi 59, Pearl River 10

ViJay Miller threw two touchdown passes and ran for a third score, Deon McIntosh and Keon Moore rushed for two touchdowns apiece, and defending NJCAA national champion East Mississippi Community College (2-0) routed Pearl River Community College.

The win was the 100th in the career of EMCC head coach Buddy Stephens.

Gulf Coast 46, Coahoma 21

Jacobi Hearn returned a fumble for a touchdown, and Mississippi Gulf Coast’s defense and special teams each recorded a safety as the Bulldogs (2-0) slogged their way through a driving rainstorm to beat Coahoma Community College.

Terrion Avery led Gulf Coast’s offense with 89 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries.

Co-Lin 21, Northeast Mississippi 7

Hayden Davis threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Antoine Robinson late in the third quarter to break up a defensive stalemate, and Copiah-Lincoln (1-1) went on to pull away from Northeast Mississippi (0-2).
Deion Damper added a 21-yard touchdown run for Co-Lin, and Harrell Blackmon reutned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown. Both scores came in the final five minutes of the game.

The first 10 possessions of the game all ended in punts. Co-Lin finished with a modest 278 yards of total offense, and Northeast had 186. Co-Lin also was penalized 15 times for 118 yards.

East Central 34, Itawamba 28

Mario Asagunla threw four touchdown passes, and East Central Community College (1-1) used a late defensive stop to beat No. 14 Itawamba Community College (1-1).

East Central led 27-7 at halftime, but had to sweat out the win.

Trailing by six with 4:40 to play, Itawamba drove from its own 21 to the Warrior 11 before the East Central defense stopped the Indians on four straight plays. The East Central offense took over and ran out the clock.