Winston County native Mark Hudspeth opened his tenure as head football coach at Austin Peay University in fine fashion last Thursday night as his homestanding Governors rolled to a 41-10 win over North Carolina Central. It was AP’s first season opening win since 2010 and was the first time a Governors’ head coach debuted with a win since 2007.
Hudspeth now has a combined record of 143-60 in his 16-plus years as a head coach. He was head man at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette for seven seasons and the University of North Alabama for seven seasons. He led Winston Academy to a 25-1 record in two seasons as head coach , including the MPSA Class A state title in 1997. Austin Peay is set to play host to Central Arkansas at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
— Austin Bishop
NANIH WAIYA’S SMITH SEES ACTION
Former Nanih Waiya standout Chris Smith took advantage of his first change to play college football, as he returned three kicks for 68 yards for the Ragin’ Cajuns of the University of Louisiana in a 38-28 loss to Mississippi State on Saturday. His long return was for 30 yards.
This game was the debut of the Bulldogs Tommy Stevens, the Bulldogs graduate transfer quarterback from Penn State. He threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns, with a quarterback rating of 67.4. Stevens also ran for 37 yards and a touchdown. Bulldog star running back, Kylin Hill also had an explosive game as he ran for 197 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries. Nick Gibson also ran for 27 yards and a touchdown.
— Cooper Sanders
BLAIR MAKES BIG CATCHES FOR BRAVES
Former Louisville High School standout Chris Blair hauled in four passes for 67 yards, including a big 37-yarder, to lead the Alcorn State Braves in both categories in their 38-10 loss to USM on Saturday night.
Three of Blair’s four catches, including the first play from scrimmage for ASU in the game, went for first downs. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Blair led ASU in receiving last year, catching 43 passes for 529 yards and six touchdowns.
— Austin Bishop
TOP-RANKED LIONS FALL IN OPENER
The preseason top-ranked and reigning two-time national champion Lions of East Mississippi Community College had their 17-game winning streak snapped by dropping a 24-16 road decision to the Hinds Eagles during Thursday night’s season-opening MACJC football action played at Gene Murphy Field/Joe Renfroe Stadium.
Hinds’ DeMario Nichols stepped in front of a would-be EMCC receiver and sprinted 83 yards for the game-clinching touchdown with 2:33 remaining in the contest.
Coach Buddy Stephens’ EMCC Lions look to rebound from their first loss since midway through the 2017 season when they fell at Northwest Mississippi by playing host to the Wildcats of Pearl River Community College on Thursday (Sept. 5). Kickoff for EMCC’s home opener is set for 7 p.m. at Sullivan-Windham Field on the Scooba campus.
EMCC’s season-opening defeat at Hinds also marked just the sixth setback in the last 92 games for the Lions dating back to the 2011 season and only the 14th loss overall in 124 decisions spanning back to Stephens’ first season (2008) at the East Mississippi football helm.
— School Reports
REBELS SEEKING MORE OFFENSE
While the Ole Miss defense played well in the Rebels’ 15-10 loss to Memphis on Saturday, surprisingly the Ole Miss offense did not look as explosive as normal. The Tiger defense only allowed 173 total offensive yards to the rebel offense, as Matt Corral only passed for 93 yards, and the team only rushed for 80 yards. This Ole Miss offense needs to find its rhythm or this season could be a plethora of tough losses.
— Cooper Sanders
ECCC SOCCER TEAMS PICK UP WINS
The East Central Community College soccer teams picked up a pair of impressive non-division soccer wins Friday against the Southwest Mississippi teams in matches played in Summit.
The East Central women remained perfect on the season with a 5-0 shutout of the Southwest Lady Bears. The ECCC Warriors followed with a 3-1 win over the Bears. The ECCC Lady Warriors are now 2-0 on the season, while the Warriors improved to 2-1 with their second straight win.
The East Central home openers were scheduled for Wednesday when Holmes was to pay a visit visits Decatur for MACJC North Division matches. The Warriors and Lady Warriors will then travel to Fulton to face division opponent Itawamba at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday.
— School Reports
JACKSON TOUCHDOWN CLUB SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED
The Jackson Touchdown Club, in its 73rd year of existence, has announced its slate of guest speakers for the 2019 season. The meetings are held each Monday at 6 p.m. at the River Hills Club in Jackson, which is located at the intersection of Lakeland Drive and Ridgewood Road.
Club Membership is $330 per person, which includes tickets to each event. Admission to each event for non-members and guests is $35 per person. Space is limited. Call 601-506-3186 for more information.
This year’s schedule of speakers is as follows: Sept. 9, USM athletic director Jeremy McClain; Sept. 16, Ole Miss radio personality Richard Cross; Sept. 23, award-winning columnist Tony Barnhart, known as Mr. Football; Sept. 30, MSU head football coach Joe Moorhead; Ot. 7, ESPN recruiting analyst Tom Luginbill; Oct. 14, NFL official and Brandon resident Sarah Thomas; Oct. 21, The voice of the University of Southern Mississippi sports, John Cox; Oct. 28, USM head football coach Jay Hopson; Nov. 4, the voice of MSU radio, Neil Price; Nov. 11, Holly Rowe of ESPN; Nov. 18, Ole Miss head football coach Matt Luke; Nov. 25, Sports radio talk show host and MSU football color commentator Matt Wyatt. The series concludes on Dec. 2 with Most Valuable Senior Night, featuring the top senior of all 10 of Mississippi’s football playing universities/colleges.
— Austin Bishop
CRAZY NIGHT IN THE JUCO WORLD
Upsets are fairly rare in the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges, but they were commonplace on Thursday night.
Not only did No. 1-ranked EMCC fall to Hinds, but Coahoma picked up the biggest win in the school’s history when the Tigers knocked off No. 4 Jones College 18-10 in Clarksdale. Other scores on Thursday night saw Northwest beat East Central 26-13, Gulf Coast down Mississippi Delta 49-9, Co-Line nip Holmes 27-21, ,Pearl River edge Itawamba 35-31 and Northeast outlast Southwest 19-13 in three overtimes.
EMCC and Jones both are seeking redemption this Thursday as the Lions play host to Pearl River at 7 p.m. and the JC Bobcats pay a visit to Holmes at 6:30 p.m. Other 6:30 games have East Central hosting Itawamba and Northeast visiting Co-Lie. Other 7 p.m. games have Hinds visiting Miss. Delta, Coahoma traveling to Gulf Coast and Northwest hosting Southwest.
— Austin Bishop
AROUND THE STATE
Jackson State fell to Bethune Cookman, 36-15, and Mississippi Valley threw the ball 52 times Saturday night in their 26-20 loss to Tennessee State.
This week Valley visits Lamar, while Jackson State travels to Mobile to battle South Alabama this week. Mississippi College opens the season at Alcorn State while Delta State opens their season at home versus Tusculum on Thursday night. Millsaps also plays host to Belhaven University on Thursday night at 6 p.m.
— Dale McKee
