Trojans Reset for Road Trip to MGCCC

By Mark H. Stowers

Moorhead, MS – With a game under their belts and plenty of game film to dissect, MDCC Head Football Coach Ernest Jones and his assistants are ready to make some changes before heading to Perkinston this coming Thursday, September 4 to take on the #10 nationally ranked Bulldogs of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (1-0) at 7:00 p.m. The Bulldogs took down East Central, 41-21, to open their season.

"I don't want to make up any excuses but it was the first game for a lot of our players. I've got 65 players and for 50 of them, it was their first game," Coach Jones said. "The lights were shining for them, brightly. And they weren't ready for that moment."

A solid Bobcat team kept the Trojans at bay on both offense and defense.

"They were physical. They were aggressive. Exactly like they said they were going and I don't think we were ready for that aggressive fight," Coach Jones said. "I don't want to say our offense was stagnant but we couldn't do anything. We were 0.2 yards a run and 0.3 yards a pass. Our defense was trying to do it, but that makes it tough. They were 3-out-of-16 on third down so we got them off the field on third down but we gave up a bunch of big plays. Three long passing plays for 125 yards and that made a difference because they scored each time."

He explained, "there were some good things we saw on defense but we have to have it as a whole – defense, offense and special teams. Our punter (Ceidrick Hunt 11 punts for 43.6 yards per kick) did an outstanding job out there. But we're going to learn from it. This game gave us a lot of film and corrections to look at. We're not going to throw it away. We played the game and we lost the game but we're going to use what we did to try and get better. We'll definitely get better. We saw some positive things."

Looking ahead, Coach Jones knows that the first road trip has its challenges.

"We've got a tough opponent in Mississippi Gulf Coast and we're going to try and zero in and practice hard and get the guys focused and locked in on this game plan," Coach Jones said. "We've got some film so at least we can game plan but we'll be playing a much better football team."

The team "came out pretty healthy" after game one, but Coach Jones and his staff are looking at making changes – especially on the offensive side.

"They are all young and we've got to figure out what young guy is the best guy. Both of our quarterbacks haven't taken a snap. We're very young at wide receiver and we've got to find two or three guys who will help us move the ball. On defense, I've got to find ways to tighten up. We have to find a way to not give up big plays and we missed a lot of tackles out there too."

The Trojans travel to Perkinston to take on Gulf Coast Community College on Thursday, September 4, at 7:00 p.m. To follow the Trojans, check out www.mdcctrojans.com.