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The Mississippi College football team took a 13-7 lead into the fourth quarter, but West Alabama picked up a 14-13 come-from-behind win on Saturday afternoon at Tigers Stadium.
The Choctaws (2-7, 0-6 GSC) opened the scoring in the first quarter when senior Tyler Poe nailed a 38-yard field goal, capping a 9-play, 84-yard drive. The defenses would take over from there, and the game would go into halftime with MC leading 3-0.
The Tigers (7-3, 4-2 GSC) looked poised to score in the second quarter, taking the ball down to the MC 10-yard line, but juniorReggie Bennett picked off a tipped pass in the end zone, keeping UWA scoreless.
Junior Josh Dixon gave the Choctaws a 10-0 lead to open the second half, breaking several tackles on his way to a 59-yard touchdown run. The Choctaws rushed for 303 yards with Dixon running seven times for 88 yards.
The MC offense had a new man behind center on Saturday, as junior Sharone Wright stepped in after several injuries to MC signal-callers. The former quarterback at Houston High School went 2-for-9 for 50 yards and rushed for 52 more. He had a 55-yard touchdown run called back in the first half on a holding penalty.
The Tigers would finally get on the board with 8:57 to go in the third quarter as Tyler Rogers broke free for a 25-yard score, cutting the MC lead to 10-7.
Poe would extend the lead for the Choctaws with 5:07 remaining in the third period, nailing a 39-yard field goal and pushing the lead to 13-7. The Pearl native improved to 6-for-6 on field goal tries this season with the make.
MC took the lead into the fourth quarter, but the Tigers broke free for another long touchdown run as Rashaad Lee went in from 33 yards out to make the score 14-13.
The Choctaws would take over on offense with 6:22 remaining in the game and moved the ball down to the UWA 23-yard line. Poe’s 40-yard field goal attempt that would have given MC a lead, went just to the right, and the Tigers took over.
MC forced another punt on a three-and-out, and a bad snap forced the UWA punter to kick the ball off the ground as it was fumbled. After a lengthy discussion by the officials, a controversial call was made and the Choctaws were forced to take over at the Tiger 37-yard line.
They were unable to move the ball and an incomplete pass on fourth down ended the game as UWA ran out the final seconds.
Junior Alex Johnson and freshman Mike Hall led the MC defense with nine tackles apiece, while Hall had one tackle for loss. Freshman R.J. Arnold finished with eight tackles, while junior Darryl Johnson had a team-high 2.0 tackles for loss.
The Choctaws held on to the ball for over 34 minutes, keeping the Tiger offense off the field and to just 377 total yards of offense.
The Choctaws are back in action to close out the 2015 season on November 14th when they host Delta State for the “Heritage Bowl” at 3:00 p.m. at Robinson-Hale Stadium.
