WESSON — Beware of an ambush.

Co-Lin linebacker Blake Spiers knows the Itawamba CommunityCollege Indians like to run trick plays on opposing defenses. Thatmeans the Co-Lin Wolfpack must be mentally sharp when the Indiansinvade Stone Stadium Thursday night for the second game of theseason. Kickoff is 7 p.m.

Spiers (6-2, 220), a sophomore from Brandon, helped the Wolfpackwhip Northwest 33-7 last week in their home opener.

“We want to win two in a row,” said Spiers. “Itawamba beatSouthwest with a trick play. They ran a toss-sweep. Then their widereceiver threw it for a touchdown.”

“We will have to work hard to beat them,” Spiers continued. “Theyhave a good offensive line with two All-Americans They’re a finesseteam. They run bubble-type pass plays to their receivers.”

Spiers said he enjoys playing for Co-Lin. “The campus is real quietand you can concentrate.”

A business major, Spiers has taken 64 hours of course work andplans to graduate in December. “I want to play senior collegefootball. I just don’t know where it’s going to be. I’ll look forthe best offer.”

Co-Lin head coach Glenn Davis said Spiers has improved since hisfreshman season. “Blake has really worked hard in the offseason. Hebrought himself in better shape.

“Blake has accepted a leadership role for us,” Davis pointed out.”You keep building on those things every game. Hopefully, he’ll getbetter and better.”

The Itawamba Indians are 1-0 after defeating Southwest 20-10 atFulton. It spoiled the debut of Charles Anthony, Southwest’s newhead coach.

“Southwest very well could have won,” said Davis. “They dominatedthe game in the second half. They turned it over on downs insidethe one.”

Itawamba, located in Fulton, is coached by Jeff Terrill, aMississippi State graduate. In his fifth year at the helm, Terrillhas a 19-18 overall record. His Indians, 6-2, 5-1 last year, wererunners-up to Northeast in the North Division race and lost to GulfCoast in the opening round of the state playoffs.

“They are a well-coached football team,” said Davis. “They playextremely hard on defense. They have a physical running game onoffense. They also have a couple of good receivers.”

Quarterback Tyson Lee directs ICC’s offense. Lee (5-11, 191) is afreshman from Columbus. Top receivers are D.A. Griffin ((5-11, 182,fr.) of Millbrook, Ala. and Jeffery Cameron (6-2, 180, fr.) ofTupelo. Mario Crump (5-10, 200, so.) of Aberdeen is the Indians’major mover in the rushing department.

“I hope we can play better and and play smarter than last time,”said Davis. “We hope to establish a running game.”

Davis said the Rangers concentrated on halting Co-Lin’s runninggame last Thursday. “Northwest played more people in the box. Theytook away the run.”

The Wolves managed just 21 yards on the ground but capitalized viathe airways as sophomore quarterback Cedric Johnson passed for 222yards and 4 touchdowns.

Quarterback/wide receiver Thomas Hinton Jr. caught TD passes of 29and 63 yards. Darius Williams (59 yards) and Damoyn Carroll (19yards) also caught scoring passes. Clarence Pendleton returned afumble 58 yards for a Co-Lin TD.

On defense, the Wolfpack limited Northwest to 194 yards totaloffense. The Rangers got their only touchdown after a fake puntbackfired late in the first half, deep in Co-Lin territory.

“Our defense played hard,” said Davis. “Up front we need to get offthe ball faster. We got tired up front. For the most part I waspleased.”

Spiers and defensive end Steven King had quarterback sacks.Northwest was limited to 55 passing yards.

Wolf Tails: Co-Lin hasn’t played Itawamba since2001. The Wolves posted a season-opening 13-8 victory at Wesson, enroute to a 5-4 campaign under former head coach Dave Cross. It wasCo-Lin’s last winning record.