Co-Lin hosts East Miss. in opener

Published 5:00 am Thursday, August 27, 2009

WESSON – Kickoff 2009 for the Co-Lin Wolfpack arrives Thursdaynight in Stone Stadium when the East Mississippi Community CollegeLions arrive. Kickoff is 7 p.m.

Co-Lin coach Glenn Davis said his team was anxious to start theseason. “We are looking forward to getting started. We want to playsomebody beside ourselves.

“I’m anxious to see how our players play together,” he added.”We have some vocal leaders on our team.”

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Davis, starting his sixth campaign at the Wolfpack helm, saw histeam finish 4-5 last season and 3-3 in the South Division.

Co-Lin Lineup

Asked for a starting lineup, Davis said the following playerswould start. Anchoring the Co-Lin offense is center Darion Smith(6-2, 260, so.) of Brookhaven. The guards are Joe Collins (6-2,270, so.) of Madison and Julius Magee (6-2, 265, so.) ofMonticello. Tackles are Bennie Peoples (6-3, 310, so.) of Vicksburgand Reed Maddox (6-5, 285, so.) of Magee.

Quarterbacking Co-Lin is Percy Turner (6-2, 200, fr.) ofFayette. At running back are Tywon Lee (5-11, 210, so.) of Mageeand Justin Rogers (5-11, 185, fr.) of Birmingham, Ala.

The wideouts are Mike Shaw (5-10, 180, so.) of Magee, DelmonRobinson (5-11, 185, so.) of Vicksburg and Johnathan Whiteside(6-1, 165, so.) of Hattiesburg.

Seasoned sophomore Tyler Fitzgerald (6-2, 230, so.) of Florencewill handle the punting and placekicking duties. Ricky Stutts(5-10, 185, fr.) of Flowood is the long snapper.

On defense, the ends are Ken Adams ( 6-5, 255, so.) ofEnterprise, Ala. and Josh Tillman (6-4, 255, so.) of Meadville. Thetackles are Donald Langley (6-3, 285, so.) of Washington D.C. andRoland Dampeer (6-1, 245, fr.) of Mendenhall.

At linebacker are Jordan Hunt (6-1, 215, fr.) of Meadville,Terrance Coleman (6-2, 250, fr.) of Mobile, Ala. and Bobo Rancifer(6-2, 205, so.) of Brookhaven who was a starting safety for Co-Linlast year.

The cornerbacks are Ryan Williams (5-11, 180, so.) of Mobile andDequan Menzie (6-0, 185, so.) of Columbus, Ga. At safety are ArthurBenson (5-11, 180, fr.) of Crystal Springs and Lionel Stokes (5-10,170, so.) of Columbia.

The Co-Lin roster includes 55 players, plus a practice team.

Lions Defending North

East Mississippi won the North Division title last year. TheLions return their quarterback, Randall Mackey, who passed for 2558yards and 20 touchdowns in EMCC’s 8-1 regular season. Patrick Shed,who rushed for 726 yards and 10 TDs last season, returns at runningback.

Mackey (6-0, 185) is a sophomore from Port Sulphur, La. Shed(5-9, 175) is from Starkville.

Davis said the Lions boast two outstanding linemen withpreseason accolades. “They have an All-American offensive tackle(Quartney Cox) and an All-American at defensive end (ClaudeDavis).”

Cox (6-4, 275) is from West Point. Davis (6-4, 250) is fromLakeland, Fla.

Last year EMCC beat Co-Lin 28-9 at Scooba.

Reviewing last year’s game, Coach Davis said, “We had or chanceslast year but it got away from us at the end. They made a few moreplays than we did.”

The Lions are coached by Buddy Stephens, a Delta State graduate.His first EMCC edition finished 8-2.

Wolf Tails: In last year’s 28-9 loss at EMCC,Randall Mackey threw for two touchdowns and ran for another againstthe Wolves. Mackey completed 13 out of 25 passes for 341 yards.

Co-Lin sophomore quarterback Micah Davis completed 21 of 39passes for 203 yards and was intercepted 3 times. Ronny McNulty ledCo-Lin’s rushing game with 22 carries for 86 yards and 1 TD.