ELLISVILLE — Jones College scored three touchdowns in the last 5 1/2 minutes of the first quarter Thursday night, then held off a comeback bid by Northeast Mississippi Community College to win 40-27.

Stetson Bennett threw for one touchdown and ran for another for Jones (6-1, 4-0 MACJC South). Kalyn Grandberry rushed for 112 yards, and Donte Edwards had 50 yards and a touchdown.

Former Warren Central star Fred Barnum was 9-of-13 passing for 119 yards for Jones. Former Vicksburg High linebacker Nick Anderson had five tackles.

Edwards’ 2-yard TD run, a 67-yard pass from Bennett to Gabe Douglas, and a 64-yard punt return touchdown by Immanuel Jones put Jones ahead 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Northeast got on the board with a 68-yard touchdown pass from Zac Oden to Kortlon Hubbard early in the third quarter, and got as close as 33-20 on a 2-yard TD run by Zykeris Mosley with 5:05 left in the game.
Jones’ Enrique Whaley broke off a 40-yard TD run with 3:24 remaining to seal it, however.

Co-Lin 41, Hinds 27

Connor Mire threw a pair of touchdown passes to Kundarrius Taylor, and Deion Damper ran for 79 yards and two scores as Copiah-Lincoln (5-2, 4-0 MACJC South) beat Hinds Community College (4-3, 2-2) to clinch a berth in the MACJC playoffs for the first time in four years.

Hinds lost despite outgaining Co-Lin 471 yards to 71, running 27 more plays than the Wolves, and collecting 29 first downs to Co-Lin’s 13.

Hinds was penalized 13 times for 135 yards, committed four turnovers, had a blocked punt returned for a touchdown and missed two extra points.

All of the game’s points were scored in the first half.

Taylor caught three passes for 111 yards for Co-Lin, including touchdowns of 29 and 80 yards. Rico Owens carried the ball 13 times for 122 yards and a touchdown.

For Hinds, Don Ragsdale finished with 214 rushing yards and two touchdowns and Javon Antonio caught six passes for 113 yards. Former Port Gibson star Ivin White, Jr. had three sacks on defense.

Hinds will play East Central Community College next Thursday at 7 p.m. in Raymond for homecoming.

Gulf Coast 27, East Central 14

Mississippi Gulf Coast scored on four of its first five possessions, and then the defense held East Central in check on the way to a victory Thursday night in Perkinston.

Denzel Carter and Terrion Avery scored twice each for Gulf Coast (5-2, 2-2 MACJC South). Chance Lovertich completed 12 of 18 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns. Both touchdown passes went to Carter.

East Central put together drives of 19, 14 and 10 plays in the second half. All three ended inside the 20-yard line, but the Warriors (3-4, 2-2) only managed one touchdown. The final two drives had 11 goal-to-go plays, one of which ended in a 2-yard touchdown pass from Brady Anderson to Marcus Hooks.

Gulf Coast only ran 18 offensive plays in the second half.

Anderson was 20-of-34 passing for 163 yards and one touchdown for East Central. Running back James Smith III rushed 13 times for 83 yards, and freshman wide receiver Jaylen Zachery had four receptions for 48 yards.

Northwest Mississippi 35, Coahoma 24

After falling behind by two touchdowns in the first quarter, Northwest Mississippi (6-1, 3-1 MACJC North) got back on track with three first half touchdown drives and held Coahoma Community College (0-7, 0-4) scoreless in the second half to earn a come-from-behind win.

Northwest won for the 42nd time in 44 meetings with Coahoma.

Myron Norfleet scored on a 7-yard run and Jaylin Jones a 1-yard run to give Coahoma a 14-0 lead with 5:20 left in the first quarter. Northwest then scored 21 straight points before Coahoma answered with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Norfleet to Stefan Harmon with 1:52 to go in the first half to take a 24-21 lead into halftime.

It was all Northwest after that. Jacob Free hit JaVonta Payton for a 27-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter, and Urriah Shephard scored on a 1-yard run early in the fourth to put the Rangers ahead 35-24.
Free finished 19-of-30 passing for 323 yards and two touchdowns. Maurice Toney caught two passes for 103 yards, and former Warren Central star Demarcus Jones caught two passes for 43 yards. Jones had a 41-yard reception to set up Northwest’s first touchdown.

Robert Miller led Northwest’s defense with 12 tackles, one sack and one fumble recovery. Brandin Echols had five tackles, one forced fumble, one interception and four pass breakups.

Norfleet completed 21 of 38 passes for 238 yards and one touchdown for Coahoma, and also ran for 63 yards and a touchdown. He also threw one interception and was sacked three times.

Former Vicksburg High star Jo’Mon O’Neal had five tackles and one pass breakup for the Tigers.