WESSON – Saturday night’s Mississippi Association of Communityand Junior College state semifinal game pitted the state’s No.1-ranked offense of the East Mississippi Lions, against the state’sNo. 1-ranked defense of the Co-Lin Wolfpack. The defense prevailedas the Wolfpack took a 48-21 win to gain a berth in the statechampionship game.

The Wolfpack (9-1, 5-1) will host Mississippi Gulf Coast in theMACJC State Championship game on Saturday, Nov. 13. Kickoff is 5p.m. in Stone Stadium.

Co-Lin head coach Glenn Davis complimented his team’s performanceon offense and defense. “I am really pleased. Our kids reallyplayed hard. I can’t say enough about how hard they have played allseason.”

Gulf Coast, the South Division’s No. 2 seed, defeated thepreviously unbeaten and No. 4 ranked Northwest Rangers 52-24 in theother semifinal matchup Saturday at Senatobia. The Bulldogs are theonly blemish on Co-Lin’s record ,defeating the Wolfpack 23-3 onOct. 16 in Perkinston.

The Co-Lin defense held East Mississippi’s offense that averaged458.3 yards per game to only 254 yards of total offense. Lionquarterback Brad Henderson, who ranks second among the state’squarterbacks, throwing for an average 290.9 yards per game,completed 17 of 40 passes for only 198 yards.

“Our defensive front got pressure on the quarterback without ushaving to blitz,” said Davis. “That helped us a lot.”

The Wolfpack jumped out to an early 14-0 lead in the first quarteras quarterback Percy Turner scored on touchdown runs of 25 and1-yard. Justin Danise added the PATs.

East Mississippi answered as Trayshun King took a Danise blockedpunt 17-yards for the touchdown with 1:16 left in the first quarteras the Lions pulled to 14-7.

Running back Joel Davis scored the first of his three touchdowns inthe game, taking a 14-yard pass from Turner into the end zone with12:10 in the second quarter. Danise’s PAT went wide right as theWolfpack extended their lead to 20-7.

Henderson hit Andrew Taylor on a 7-yard strike with 8:07 left inthe second quarter to pull the Lions within 20-14.

On the Lions’ next possession, Co-Lin defensive end Jason Catchingsstripped the ball from Henderson and recovered it in the end zone.Danise’s PAT gave Co-Lin a 27-14 lead with 4:32 left in thehalf.

With 15 seconds left to go the half, Co-Lin running back MontrellConner plunged 1-yard up the middle as the Wolfpack lead grew to34-14 at halftime.

In the second half, Davis added his second score of the game, a25-yard touchdown run at the 5:32 mark left in the third quarter.Danise’s PAT gave Co-Lin a 41-14 lead.

After a Co-Lin fumble, Henderson led the Lions down the field andran the ball in from 12 yards out with 5:41 left in the game.Walker’s PAT pulled the Lions to 41-21.

The game’s final score came on a 32-yard Davis run with 4 minutesleft in the game giving the Wolfpack a 48-21 win.

Co-Lin’s offense had a big night rolling up 450 yards of totaloffense. Turner completed 11 of 20 passes for 169 yards and 1touchdown.

Davis led the Co-Lin rushing attack with 12 carries for 103 yards.Turner rushed 7 times for 96 yards and Conner had 15 carries for 48yards.

Coach Davis said he has been able to replace injured players withqualified replacements

“Each week somebody different is stepping up and making plays,” hecontinued. “I thought Percy played real well. We played Fred Fullerboth ways and so did LaVoyd James.”

Fuller and James are both wideouts on offense. They played thesecondary on defense.