Trojans Cage Eagles at Homecoming, 23-7

By Mark H. Stowers - updated

Homecoming - a weeklong celebration of all things MDCC Trojans was capped off by ending a 26-year losing drought to Hinds Community College as the Trojans manhandled the Eagles, 23-7 on Sandy Wilson Field at Jim Randall Stadium. 

The Trojans injected some fun into their offense with some "trickeration" on a 4th and five yards to go reverse that led to a first down and kept the Trojan scoring drive alive. A six-yard TD run by sophomore quarterback Troy Griffin put the Trojans in the lead, 6-0 (missed PAT) with 14:55 left in the second quarter. The Trojans added another TD when Griffin hit sophomore Daniel Hall with a 23-yard TD pass. The PAT made it 13-0 for the Trojans. 

Ciedrick Hunt nailed a 39-yard field goal with one second on the clock before halftime to put MDCC up 16-0. 

Sophomore Mackenzie Porter from Grenada was crowned Homecoming Queen during halftime festivities. 

The Eagles, now 0-4 overall and 0-2 MACCC South Half, found their way to the end zone in the third quarter when Ja'Montae Walla caught an 11-yard TD pass from Jabari Watson. The PAT was good and Hinds had cut the lead to 16-7 with 9:21 left in the third.

The Trojans capped off scoring with a four-play drive in the fourth quarter, going 66 yards in 2:28. Griffin hit paydirt after a 58-yard run. The PAT was good, making it 23-7 for the final score.

"I'll take the win any way it comes. But the guys earned that. They started earning that last Sunday. But actually, for the last two weeks, they've been earning it. They've been sitting on go with that hurricane (Northeast game rescheduled)," Head Coach Tavares Johnson Sr. said.

With 247 yards rushing, Coach Johnson noted, "Our game plan was to establish a run, number one. And let the run set up our big plays, our play-action passing game. And play sound defense and extra special teams."

Special teams had been an Achilles heel for the Trojans but not this season.

"That's been our biggest factor. We need to make sure our special teams contribute every game. And I'm proud of (Ceidrick) Hunt. He hit a career-best 40-yard field goal even though they officially marked it at 39."

The Trojan defense kept the Eagles under wraps throughout the game. 

"It should be defense first. The blueprint and the style of the physical toughness that we want to bring to the table. That's going to separate us from the other teams in our league," he said. "That's how we do it. That's how we're going to do it," Coach Johnson said.

The fourth and five reverse was keyed by watching Hinds tendencies that offered the opportunity.

"We're not going to leave no stone unturned. If we see something and we've been practicing it, we're going to call it. And we saw on film some things that they did on what we call laydowns. Third down, fourth down, that we could take advantage of. And we did," he said. "We weren't afraid to pull the trigger. And we did." 

With healthy quarterbacks, Coach Johnson first went with Connor Whitson to start the game but brought sophomore Troy Griffin off the bench to spark the offense.

"Sometimes you gotta do things to shake up people. Troy had three touchdowns - ran two and threw one," he said. "

With 321 yards of total offense - 74 passing and 247 rushing - the Trojans held Hinds to only 182 yards of offense. 

For full stats, https://mdcctrojans.com/sports/fball/2024-25/boxscores/20240919_x7r7.xml. 

The Trojans travel to Itawamba (3-1 overall and 1-0 in North Half) on Thursday, September 26 to take on the Indians who took down East Mississippi, 36-34. The Trojans are now 1-2 overall and pick up their first division win and are 1-0 in the North Half. Hinds falls to 0-3 overall and 0-2 in the South Half of the MACCC.

"If you look at the schedule, or look at everybody's schedule, everybody has the ability to beat everybody. In the first game, Hinds really should have won against Itawamba, but the score ended up being 10-7. They fumbled it on a drive going in that would have made it 14-10. And that was their ballgame. But what happened? They turned the ball over and Itawamba ended up winning. And then, Itawamba comes back and beats East Mississippi. Northwest. Every game is a new season, and every game, everybody has an opportunity to beat each other. It's a team that makes the least amount of mistakes, and that's why those 11 teams concern me, and we've got to beat those teams up."

The Trojan defense was key in the division win. 

"It should be defense first. The blueprint and the style of the physical toughness that we want to bring to the table. That's going to separate us from the other teams in our league," he said. "That's how we do it. That's how we're going to do it," Coach Johnson said.

The fourth and five reverse was keyed by watching Hinds tendencies that offered the opportunity.

"We're not going to leave no stone unturned. If we see something and we've been practicing it, we're going to call it. And we saw on film some things that they did on what we call laydowns. Third down, fourth down, that we could take advantage of. And we did," he said. "We weren't afraid to pull the trigger. And we did." 

With healthy quarterbacks, Coach Johnson first went with Connor Whitson to start the game but brought sophomore Troy Griffin off the bench to spark the offense.

"Sometimes you gotta do things to shake up people. Troy had three touchdowns - ran two and threw one," he said. "

With 321 yards of total offense - 74 passing and 247 rushing - the Trojans held Hinds to only 182 yards of offense. 

For full stats, https://mdcctrojans.com/sports/fball/2024-25/boxscores/20240919_x7r7.xml. 

The Trojans travel to Itawamba (3-1 overall and 1-0 in North Half) on Thursday, September 26 to take on the Indians who took down East Mississippi, 36-34. The Trojans are now 1-2 overall and pick up their first division win and are 1-0 in the North Half. Hinds falls to 0-3 overall and 0-2 in the South Half of the MACCC.