WESSON – After a defensive battle in the first half, SouthwestMississippi Community College opened the offensive playbook in thesecond half. The Bears erupted for 30 points to defeat theCopiah-Lincoln Community College Wolves 36-19 Thursday in a SouthDivision encounter.

Co-Lin falls to 1-5 and 0-5 in the division. Southwest improvesto 3-3 and 3-2.

Both teams conclude their regular seasons Thursday. Co-Lintravels to Pearl River while Southwest hosts East Central.

In the opening 30 minutes, Co-Lin and Southwest only had 3possessions each. Several of those drives were between 6 and 10minutes long.

After a scoreless first period, the Bears managed field goals of22 and 34 yards by Tucker Hoge of Brandon. In between the kicks,the Wolves briefly took a 7-3 lead, when quarterback Cedric Johnsonhit wideout Anthony Chambliss with an 8-yard scoring strike andChris Blackwell’s PAT kick.

Co-Lin carried a 7-6 lead into the halftime locker room.

“Coach Ryan Ross, our offensive coordinator from Brookhaven,made some adjustments at halftime,” said Bear head coach Dom Green.”Co-Lin did not rush in the first half. Our quarterback (Fred Jonesof Magnolia) could not make his reads.”

The halftime adjustments apparently worked for Southwest,scoring 30 second-half points on offense, defense and specialteams.

Green’s team claim their first lead of the game at the 11:45mark of the third when Markcus Crockett hit paydirt on a 3-yardrun. Jones tacked on the 2-point conversion run as the Bears held a14-7 lead.

Southwest added a safety in the period when defensive linemanAaron Ammons dropped Wolfpack runningback Rashawn Robinson in theendzone.

Southwest entered the final stanza with a 16-7 cushion.

Offenses were on display in the final 15 minutes as both squadscombined for 32 points.

Jones fired a pair of touchdowns respectively to wideouts EdgarGivens and Edward Gant. Defensive back Craig Fox intercepted aJohnson pass and found the goal line 80 yards later as the Bearshad opened up 36-7 advantage.

Co-Lin managed a pair of touchdowns in the final 2 minutes, 25seconds. Reserve quarterback Thomas Hinton, Jr. hit Lee Evans ofCrystal Springs with a 16-yard scoring strike. Magnolia’s JonathanWilliams jetted to the end zone from yards away with under 28seconds left in the game. Both 2-point conversions attemptsfailed.

‘We had some missed opportunities in the first half,” saidCo-Lin head coach Glenn Davis. “We played well in spurts.”

“Southwest had a good team,” added Davis.

Crockett led the Bear ground game with 75 yards on 16 carries.Jones added 55 yards on 12 rushes, while completing 15-of-23 passesfor 184 yards. Givens paced the receiving with 49 yards on 5receptions and a touchdown.

The Wolfpack got 44 yards on 11 carries from Robinson. Johnsoncompleted 8-of-16 for 46 yards, while Hinton was 1-of-2 for 40yards and a touchdown pass to Matthew Delaughter. Delaughter ledthe receiving corps with a pair of catches for 44 yards.

Defensively for the Wolfpack, linebacker Luke Ogden of Natchezwas in on 13 tackles (11 solo). Blake Spiers had 8 stops. MichaelBlackwell and David Berry each had 6 tackles. Michael Bibbs andRyland Wilson each had a sack. Jarmaul George picked off aSouthwest pass, while Wilson and Anthony Barnes each had a fumblerecovey.