ELLISVILLE – Jones College was scheduled to play at Mississippi Gulf Coast on Nov. 5.
However, MGCCC announced last week that the school was pausing the football program for two weeks because of COVID-19 concerns.
MGCCC officials announced on Monday that the Jones vs. Gulf Coast game will now be played at 7 p.m. on Nov. 24 in Perkinston.
“We are just happy to be playing football (this fall),” Jones head coach Steve Buckley said Monday morning. “I tell our kids each week that when we get to Wednesday, Thursday is the only guarantee you’ve got. You never know what’s going to happen the next week and, lo and behold, here we are.
“We’ve got to handle this week with a little maturity. We have Co-Lin next week. They are off this week and we are off, so everybody ought to get well and be ready.”
Jones will now host Copiah-Lincoln at 7 p.m. on Nov. 12 at Bobcat Stadium/Sim Cooley Field. It will be Homecoming for the Bobcats (3-1) and the game will air on JCJC.TV, SuperTalk WLAU-FM, 99.3, and SuperTalkLaurel.com with Mark Easley and Luke Johnson on the call.
Jones is coming off a 37-13 defeat of Pearl River. The Bobcats jumped out to a 30-0 lead at halftime and cruised to the victory.
Still, head coach Steve Buckley said there are plenty of things for the Bobcats to improve on going into their final two regular season games.
“We had 306 total yards in the first half, scored 30 points, had four touchdowns and a field goal,” he said of last week’s victory. “Defensively, we pitched a shutout in the first half. I could not have been more pleased at halftime. I thought we were ready to play. We challenged the kids all week about it being a physical football game and I thought we were ready to play.
“The second half was a different scenario for whatever reason. I think that’s where coaches have to come in and figure out why we can’t finish. We can’t use the excuse that we are a young football team anymore. We’ve played four ballgames. We are going to take some time this week and figure out what we are doing in the second half. We are not coming out and executing like we are supposed to. It’s just totally opposite of what we’re doing in the first half.”
The Bobcats had touchdown runs from quarterback Quaterius Hawkins (Bastrop, Louisiana), Romal Webb (Memphis, Tennessee) and Paul Hughes II (Forest) in the first half, as well as a 27-yard touchdown pass from Hawkins to Markel McLaurin (Collins) and a 22-yard field goal from Gavin Gaudin (Northwest Rankin). The Bobcats had five possessions in the first half and scored five times.
The second half was different.
“We go ‘3 and out’ four times,” Buckley said. “Then, we make a first down and fumble the ball. I am not pleased with how we are not finishing right now. The first half was a total team effort in running and passing. Everything we had worked on was hitting. Defensively, it was the same way.”
JC’s only score in the second half came on a run by Antonio Spencer (Collins). The Wildcats had two touchdowns in the second half.
Defensively, safety Tylan Glass (Nanih Waiya) had 13 tackles and tackle Jalen Williams (Tylertown) and linebacker DeLawrence Butler (Clinton) had 11 stops each. Cornerback Travor Randle (Greenwood) had three tackles, one fumble recovery, one pass interception and three pass breakups.
For the game, the Wildcats ended up outgaining Jones, 372-366. Pearl River also ran 88 plays from scrimmage, compared to 58 for the Bobcats, another source of concern for Buckley.
“They (Pearl River) came out with more juice in the second half and that goes back to coaching,” he said. “I didn’t do a good job at halftime getting our kids ready to respond to what was going to occur in the second half. But we will get that fixed this week.
“We have to get off the field defensively. And our offense has to help our defense in those situations and not put them back on the field by going ‘3 and out.’”
The Bobcats will use this week off to work mostly on themselves and will concentrate more on Co-Lin next week.
Buckley said Jones is doing everything it can to complete the season.
“We are no different than any team in America,” he said. “It’s a national pandemic and I get it. Like I said, we are just happy to be playing football. We are going to continue to handle the COVID protocol and hopefully we can get to the end of this thing.”
The MACCC title game is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 5 at the South Division champion.
