Shorter Game Notes
Mississippi College Notes
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By Jim O'Hara
 
ROME, Ga. – A week ago, they came up with perhaps the biggest wins ever seen in the program's history – big in more ways than one.

 Yes, the victory was big because if came against a Division I FCS team from the Ohio Valley Conference, one in which they entered the contest as a heavy underdog.
Even bigger was that the 26-21 upset of Southeast Missouri State – on the road no less in Cape Girardeau – finally ended what had been the team's longest losing streak, a string of nine-straight setbacks.

The Shorter Hawks, however, clearly understand that as big as that game was, there are bigger ones ahead in the form of seven consecutive battles in the what is concerned the nation's toughest Division II conference – the Gulf South – the first coming Saturday when they hit the road for the fourth straight week traveling to Clinton, Miss., to take on the Mississippi College Choctaws.

"They understand that we just can't continue to dwell on that game," Shorter head coach Phil Jones said about the impressive effort by the Hawks in Missouri that gives Shorter a 1-2 record heading into their first GSC outing of the season. "We can't afford not to be ready to play. This is our first conference game and we're facing a very good team."

Jones is quick to point out that the Choctaws, the team that was before last week Shorter's third and final win exactly a year ago, are a much improved and talented team that the Hawks faced a year ago, crediting MC head coach John Bland for helping put the school's program back on its feet after football was reinstated last year.

"John's a very good football coach," Jones said Bland, who before taking the Mississippi job was the head coach at NAIA-affiliated University of the Cumberlands and went 2-1 against Shorter with that team. "We knew when he went there it would become a good situation for them. And we know what to look for."

The Choctaws host Shorter for the first time coming off a 37-0 defeat at the hands of FCS nationally-ranked McNeese State, which evens their record to 2-2. Their two wins came against Texas College and Belhaven, while MC already has a GSC game under its belt having been beaten by one of the four teams ranked in the Division II Top 10, North Alabama.

The team from Clinton – the Choctaws are in their final year of transition toward becoming a full NCAA and GSC member – average more than 236 yards a game, its biggest output a 500-yard rushing performance against NAIA Belmont.

Sophomore quarterback Kyle Smith leads the team with 307 rushing yards on 58 carries with two touchdowns, while senior signal-caller Raymond Cotton has rushed for 186 yards and three scores. Smith adds to his dual-threat capability having completed 19-of-32 passes without an interception for 331 yards and five touchdowns.

"He's an outstanding athlete who they're utilizing him more by basically operating in a shotgun," said Jones, noting that the Choctaws has been able to add experience with the addition of a number of transfers. "There are a lot of junior colleges in Mississippi. That helps them having so many around to pull from and they've taken advantage of it.

"The still base out of an option offense like we do," the coach said, "but they do things different with it. The same goes for their defense, which sets up like our base defense but can give you different looks."

The Hawks head to Mississippi having turned in the kind of performance they have been looking for since the season started.

Offensively, the Hawks put together their best outing in nearly a year against SEMO, setting the tone in the game immediately by mounting a scoring drive on the opening series of the game and ending the afternoon rolling up 409 yards, 300 of that on the ground.

Spearheading the run game is junior fullback B.J. McCoy, who rushed for 159 yards and two touchdowns last week – he is second in the GSC in rushing averaging 106 yards a game – while sophomore quarterback Aaron Bryant recorded his second straight 100-plus yards passing game (109 yards) and for the season has completed 14-of-19 passes for 244 yards and a TD.

On the defensive side of the ball, Shorter boasts three of the top four tacklers in the conference – junior linebacker Zach Butts leads the GSC in total tackles with 34 (11.3 per game), senior All-American safety Jordan Shaw is No. 2 with 27 stops (9.0) and senior linebacker Dominique Henfield is No. 4 with 25 (8.3.) – and last week the Hawk defenders once again showed just how determined they are when they turned away SEMO in the final minutes and forced the Redhawks to turn the ball over on downs inside Shorter territory.

"They're excited about this game," Jones said about how his team has re-focused on their GSC opener. "They want to be champions and are continuing to work hard to do that."