Northeast whips Co-Lin
Published 5:00 am Friday, September 10, 2004
BOONEVILLE — Michael Edmiston played like a freshmanquarterback in last week’s season opener, a 9-0 win againstSouthwest.
Thursday night, in Northeast’s home opener againstCopiah-Lincoln at Keenum Stadium, the rookie signal-caller fromFayetteville, Tenn., played Dan Marino-like, throwing for fivetouchdowns in the Tigers’ 45-14 community college football victory.Edmiston completed 15-of-24 passes for 251 yards in directingNortheast to a 2-0 start. He added 38 yards rushing.
“Last week was my first college game; it was a whole lotfaster,” Edmiston said, then smiled. “I was actually scared. Today,I felt very comfortable in the pocket. The offensive line blockedwell, the receivers caught the ball. I think I came out andperformed pretty well for a second game.”
Northeast offensive coordinator David Wilkerson thought so,too.
“We knew he was capable of doing that,” Wilkerson said. “He’sgetting better every day in practice. We are expecting big thingsfrom him. We’re excited to have him on our team.”
Edmiston wasted little time getting the Tigers’ no-huddle,spread attack in gear, completing three consecutive passes for 61yards, including a 26-yard touchdown strike to Emory Jones, whoslipped the grasp of Co-Lin’s Michael Blackwell to give the Tigersa 6-0 lead.
Larico Stevenson intercepted a pass by Co-Lin’s Beau Billeck atthe Northeast 44 to end the Wolves’ first possession.
Edmiston raced 24 yards on the Tigers’ next play. Abe Felixfollowed with a 12-yard run to the Wolves’ 20-yard line, where on athird-and-10 he scored on a sprint off left tackle with 8 minutes,51 seconds remaining in the first quarter to make the score 13-0.The Tigers’ sophomore tailback rushed for 108 yards on 15carries.
Northeast pushed it lead to 20-0 in the opening moments of thesecond quarter when Edmiston connected with T.T. Harper for a10-yard touchdown pass. The score capped a 12-play, 62-yard march.Edmiston was 9-of-17 for 151 yards passing in the first half.
“We did the things we didn’t do last week,” Co-Lin coach GlennDavis said, referring to the Wolves 28-10 win against Holmes. “Wehad penalties, we turned the ball over. We just kind of lost ourcomposure. We couldn’t get things going again. That’s the signs ofa young football team.”
Northeast, playing without injured starting placekicker ZackBost, had three extra points and one field goal blocked.
Co-Lin (1-1) changed quarterbacks, switching from Billeck to amore mobile Victor Williams, who directed the Wolves on a 9-play,59-yard scoring drive.
Tailback Julius Roberson scored on a 14-yard run with 7:48 leftto cut the Tigers’ lead to 20-6. Chris Blackwell’s extra point trywas blocked. Edmiston threw touchdown passes of 22 yards toChanning Price and 10 yards to Robert Fox in the second half.
Edmiston’s fourth touchdown strike came late in the thirdquarter on a hook-and-ladder play. The quarterback fired a 10-yardpass to Jones, who pitched the ball to a trailing Felix, who racedthe final 20 yards to the end zone.
Co-Lin scored in the third quarter on a 10-yard pass fromBilleck to Daryl Johnson. Billeck’s 2-point conversion pass to LeonStewart cut the Tigers’ lead to 26-14 with 6:18 remaining.
Northeast scored its final TD on a 62-yard fumble recoveryreturn by defensive back Gary Hodges.
The Wolves (1-1) make their home debut against the Pearl RiverWildcats Thursday night in Stone Stadium. The Tigers (2-0) hostCoahoma next Thursday in their North Division opener. The game kickoff at 7 p.m.