Co-Lin, Delta in battle of unbeatens
Published 5:00 am Wednesday, September 19, 2001
WESSON – It’s a battle of undefeated teams Thursday night inStone Stadium. The Co-Lin Wolves and Mississippi Delta CommunityCollege Trojans are both 2-0 on the season. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
“It’s a big game for us,” said Co-Lin head coach Dave Cross.”Delta is a good team. They have beaten two good footballteams.”
The Trojans knocked off East Central 14-7 in the season openerand disposed of Southwest 21-14 last Thursday night.
“Delta is extremely quick,” said Cross. “They are the bestfootball team we’ve faced yet.”
Cross said his Wolves must play well on both sides of thefootball to beat Delta. “We are stressing the importance of comingtogether and playing as a team”
On offense, Delta mixes it up. “They are fairly balanced,running and passing,” said Cross. “Their quarterback (BerkediusWomack) is extremely hard to keep hemmed up.”
Womack (6-0. 164) is a sophomore from Ruleville. He has passedfor 182 yards and 2 touchdowns. Noah Ingram (5-9, 227) is afreshman tailback from Ruleville. Ingram broke the state highschool rushing record last season. Ingram has rushed for 88 yardsin 2 games while teammate Ronnie King (6-0, 155, so.) of CentralNyack, N.Y. has gained 99 yards.
The Trojans are coached by Jim Southward, a Mississippi Stategraduate. Southward is in his eighth year and has an overall recordof 44-29. The Trojans finished 4-1 in the North Division last year,awarded the division title because Northwest was on probation.
Cross said the Trojans don’t overpower opponents with largedefensive players. “Delta isn’t as big as what we’ve seen ondefense but they are awfully quick. They are very soundfundamentally.”
The Trojans are led by linebacker Rowland Roberson ((5-11, 201),a sophomore from Greenville. Roberson has made 16 solo tackles and9 assists this season.
Defensive end Sylvester Peoples (6-4, 206, so.) leads the frontline. He has 12 solo tackles and 3 assists.
In the Delta secondary, Marcus Buchanan (5-10, 178, so.) of Pacehas 3 interceptions this year.
Cross said Willie Johnson (6-0, 185) would start at quarterbackfor Co-Lin. He’s a freshman from Jacksonville, Fla. who hascompleted 11 of 20 passes for 72 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The Wolves are fresh from a 22-0 shutout of East MississippiCommunity College at Scooba. Cross said Aaron Yarborough has playedwell at fullback. He leads the team with 107 yards rushing on 23carries.
Sophomore tailback Darius Bingham has rushed 20 times for 95yards in 2 games.
Looking at last week’s victory at East Mississippi, Cross said,”Offensively, as a whole, we looked a lot better than the firstweek.”
Co-Lin had taken an 8-0 halftime lead on a safety and a shorttouchdown run. Lineman Kinton Emile and linebacker Daniel Gawronskitackled EMCC quarterback Terion Reynolds in the end zone.
Johnson ran for a TD and passed for another. Wide receiver JoshChatman has 3 passes for 72 yards and 2 touchdowns. Antwan Marshblocked an EMCC punt.
Sophomore Odell Bradley leads Co-Lin’s secondary with 3interceptions. Linebacker Ken Bournes has made 12 solo tackles.Sidney Wiley and Gawronski each have 11 solo stops.
The Wolves have recorded 8 quarterback sacks, led by Bourneswith 4 and Marcus Winn with 2.
Wolf Tales: Last year Delta beat Co-Lin 9-6 atGoodman. In 1997, the Trojans prevailed 13-9.