Gladney returns, Jackson late FG lifts ICC past Coahoma 31-28

Gladney returns, Jackson late FG lifts ICC past Coahoma 31-28
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com

FULTON, MS -- Freshman place kicker Tyler Jackson (Oxford) kicked a 27-yard field goal as time expired to give Itawamba Community College a 31-28 victory over Coahoma Community College as the Indians overcame a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to snap a three-game losing streak on Thursday.

"Being able to kick a game-winning field goal is like a dream come true," Jackson said. "We've worked on this type of situation so many times in practice… the blocking was perfect, the snap and hold was perfect and that made the kick easy."

The Indians (4-3, 2-2 MACJC North) drove 71 yards to set up the late-game heroics in the final 1:43 of the game on the arm of freshman quarterback Griff Loftis (Mooreville) and the legs of sophomore running back Courtney Gladney (Olive Branch) after the Tigers (1-6, 0-4 MACJC North) missed a 46-yard field goal attempt wide left.

Loftis completed 3-of-4 passing attempts with two competitions for 12 yards going to Jarvis Bentley (Columbus, GA) and another for 10 yards to Rashad Pargo (Aberdeen) while Gladney carried the ball five times for 37 yards on the final drive. [SEE FINAL DRIVE]

"This was the first time in the past three weeks that we've gotten a complete team effort," said ICC head football coach Jon Williams. "I felt like the offense picked up the defense when we needed them to, the defense picked up the offense when we needed them to and obviously the special teams had a huge effect on the outcome of the game."

Trailing 28-14 heading into the fourth quarter, Loftis found Pargo for a 43-yard reception before finding the Aberdeen native a few plays later for a 20-yard scoring strike and eventually tied the game28-28 with 5:09 left in the game on a 3-yard run by Gladney.

"The past three weeks we had some chances to win a couple of games I felt like we should have won, but did things that wasn't ICC football," said Williams. "We were able correct those things, played with a lot of discipline to overcome some adversity to pull out the win."  

Gladney returned to Indians' lineup after missing three weeks due to a shoulder injury to rush for a career-high 158 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries as ICC totaled 514 yards (256 rushing; 258 passing) of total offense.

"I think the story of the game was how we were able to establish the line of scrimmage to be able to run the ball effectively," Williams said after the game. "Courtney really sucked it up to play through a lot of pain and I really feel like his performance inspired the rest of the team to keep battling all night long."

Loftis threw for 258 yards with two touchdowns and an interception on 22-of-30 passing with Pargo hauling in four catches for 90 yards and a touchdown along with Sanford Seay (Albany, GA) catching six passes for 63 yards and a score.

Brandon Smith (Aberdeen) led the Indians defensively with 10 tackles (9 solo; 1 assist) with 2.5 tackles for a loss of 10 yards while Quad Freeman (Guntown) added 9 tackles (8 solo; 1 assist) with 4 tackles for a loss of 22 yards and 2 sacks for a loss of 16 yards.

Up next for the Indians will be Northeast Mississippi Community College at 3:00 p.m. Saturday in Booneville.

"Rankings, standings, statistics and records don't matter when you play your rival because no matter what you don't want to lose," said Williams. "We hope we can take this little bit of momentum we picked up in the win against Coahoma and carry it into Booneville against a quality Northeast team."

Last week, the Tigers (2-5, 1-3 MACJC North) dropped a 49-0 decision nationally-ranked East Mississippi Community College (7-0, 4-0 MACJC North).