WESSON – Wearing their new black jerseys and black pants for their home debut Thursday night, the Co-Lin Wolfpack had high expectations for their game with No. 12-ranked Northwest. However, the Rangers spoiled the Blackout Night and sent Co-Lin’s fans home singing the blues.  They exploded for four second-quarter touchdowns and romped to a lopsided 42-21 triumph in Stone Stadium.

     “We may not wear those uniforms again,” said Co-Lin head coach Glenn Davis, visibly disappointed by his team’s performance.  “We had penalties, mistakes, dropped balls and bad passes. We didn’t play well and we didn’t coach well.”

     Co-Lin (1-1) battled the Rangers to a scoreless deadlock in the first quarter. Then, resembling a giant wave crashing ashore, the tide suddenly swung the Rangers’ way. They scored 42 unanswered points before Co-Lin wide receiver Darren Anderson  took a pass from quarterback Chandler Rogers 75 yards to paydirt on the last play of the third quarter.

     “Northwest has a good football team but they are not that much better than us,” said Davis. “We had a bad game.”

     The Rangers (1-0), forced to cancel last week’s season opener at Southwest because of Hurricane Isaac, got their offense in gear and overwhelmed Co-Lin’s defense, accounting for 453 yards total offense, 284 coming via the rush. The scoring spree started when freshman Greg Sims misplayed a Northwest punt at his 10-yard line and the ball rolled into the end zone where Taylor Rotenberry recovered it for a touchdown.

     Rogers was under heavy pressure from Northwest’s defensive front and threw 4, first-half interceptions. The first theft was claimed by Keith Reynolds Jr. at midfield. It led to Damian Baker’s 1-yard TD plunge. Chris Carpenter’s PAT kick upped the lead to 14-zip.

     The Rangers marched 71 yards in 4 plays for their next score. A 56-yard completion from quarterback Domonique Harris to running back Teshadi Talton set up a 3-yard plunge by Percy O’Bannon.

     Aaron Thompson intercepted Rogers at the Co-Lin 31 with 2:45 left in the first half. It led to Mont Dean’s 2-yard TD run, making it 28-zip.

     Northwest coach Ricky Woods said he was pleased with his team’s performance. “We played really good for three quarters.

     “We have older kids on defense and we have a lot of depth on our defensive line,” Woods added. “We have eight linemen who we can rotate in and out. That helps keep them fresh early in the season.”

     Harris, a 6-foot-5 sophomore from Southaven, completed 8 of 22 passes for 169  yards. His 26-yard pass to Josh Hamilton put the Rangers up 35-0 with 5:44 left in the third quarter.

     Talton’s 3-yard TD run gave Northwest a 42-0 lead. Baker (5-8, 180), a freshman from Columbus, led the Rangers’ land rush with 21 carries for 112 yards.

     Loyal Co-Lin fans who remained for the fourth quarter celebrated 2 touchdown catches. Rogers hit Christian “Bubba” Keene with a 14-yard slant pass and DeVante Scott caught a 6-yard scoring toss. Rogers, slowed by a leg injury sustained in the third quarter of last Saturday’s win at Northeast, completed 18 of 40 passes for 205 yards.

     On defense, the Wolves got an interception from Jeremy Davis. They got 10 tackles from linebacker Darius Woodcox and 9 from Brian Isaac.

     Co-Lin hosts East Central Sept. 13 for its first South Division test of the season. Northwest returns to Senatobia and hosts Coahoma.