Wolves battle hard, but fall to Gulf Coast 21-14

WESSON, Miss. – The No. 13 Copiah-Lincoln Community College Wolves fought hard Thursday night in front of a large energetic crowd in Stone Stadium, but were unable to leave with a victory. The Bulldogs held on for a 21-14 victory after several late pushes from the Wolves. The contest was both teams first MACJC South Division matchup. Co-Lin travels to Jones County Junior College next Thursday, September 21 in Ellisville for a 7 p.m. kickoff. Listen to the action live at colinathletics.com or Co-Lin's flagship station, WMJU 104.3.

Co-Lin looked good in their opening drive until a fumble, that was recovered for 22-yards, gave the Bulldogs the ball on the 50-yard line. Gulf Coast took advantage of the short field and scored the games first touchdown just five minutes into the contest after the Bulldog's QB Torrance Gibson found Tyquan Ulmer from 17-yards out.

After a Co-Lin three-and-out, Gulf Coast went on a 67-yard drive to stretch the lead to 14-0 with 5:52 remaining in the first quarter. Gibson sealed the drive with a 9-yard toss to Nick Brown.

Second quarter action was a defensive battle until the Wolves strung together a 70-yard drive. Rico Owens got the drive rolling with three straight caries for eight, nine, and seven yards. Freshman quarterback Woody Barrett completed the drive with a 16-yard scramble, and followed it with a four-yard dash for the Wolves' first score. Griffin Sublett hit the point after attempt to send the Wolves to locker room trailing Gulf Coast 14-7.

Late in the third quarter Gulf Coast began marching down the field, but the drive was cut short when Co-Lin's Tyler Glass picked off a pass and returned it 62-yards to the Bulldog's 29-yard line. After a Gulf Coast penalty and back-to-back five-yard rushes from freshman Deion Dampier, Barrett dove into pylon after a 19-yard run. The rushing touchdown was the second of the night for Barrett and tied the game at 14 all.

A 45-yard connection from Barrett to sophomore Ryan Drew landed the Wolves' on the Bulldog's five-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Barrett plowed his way to Gulf Coast's one-yard line, but came up just short of his third rushing touchdown of the evening. Unfortunately, the Wolves were unable to capitalize on the opportunity as a series of three penalties pushed Co-Lin out of field goal range and Gulf Coast took over on downs.

The Bulldogs took advantage of the missed opportunity as they took the ball nearly 60-yards on the ensuing drive and were threating to pull away to a two score lead, but Co-Lin's Keith Washington stripped the Gulf Coast running back and recovered the forced fumble in Co-Lin's end zone for a touchback.

Co-Lin was unable to take advantage of the momentum swing and punted away to the Bulldogs. Gulf Coast pulled away to a two score lead with 4:42 remaining in the contest after Deandre Torrey broke a 24-yard touchdown run.

The Wolves finished the night with 294 yards of total offense. Barrett was 12-for-23 for 175 yards and posted 32 yards rushing with two scores.

Owens led the Wolves' rushing attack with 49 yards on nine carries while Dampier had 38 yards on 12 carries.

Drew had 45 yards receiving on one catch, while Jemarcus Weatherall posted 40 yards. Rounding out Co-Lin's top receivers were Kobe Gates with 29 yards on three catches and Dematre Collins with 20 yards on two receptions.

Defensively Swayze Bozeman led Co-Lin. The freshman wrapped up six tackles and posted two tackles for loss. Damien Dickens and Tyler Glass had five tackles each, while Barry Howard posted two sacks for a combined 19 yards. Co-Lin had seven tackles for loss and forced two turnovers.

*All stats are unoffical