Smith’s game-winner lifts Hinds over Jones

Published 2:33 pm Friday, October 16, 2020

RAYMOND — The best game of Connor Smith’s college football career ended with a moment he might never top.

The former St. Aloysius star kicked four field goals, including the 25-yard game-winner as time expired, to give Hinds Community College an 18-16 victory over Jones College on Thursday night.

Smith connected from 25, 24, 20 and 25 yards to account for 12 of Hinds’ 18 points. He kicked three field goals in the second half as the Eagles (1-1) rallied from a 13-point deficit to win.

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Smith made a 25-yard field goal on the final play of the first half, a 24-yarder in the third quarter and a 20-yarder early in the fourth to cut a 16-0 deficit to 16-9 and set up a wild finish.

Hinds quarterback BeSean McCray threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Jeffery Malone with 47 seconds left in the game, but the extra point was blocked to leave the score at 16-15.

Hinds was able to recover the onsides kick, however, and embarked on the winning drive. McCray threw a 23-yard pass to Jaiden Burns inside the 10-yard line set up Smith’s winning kick in the final seconds.

McCray finished the game 41-of-74 passing for 421 yards and one touchdown. His yardage total and number of passing attempts are both Hinds single-game records.

Hinds ran 96 plays from scrimmage and had 440 total yards, but did not score a touchdown until the final minute of the game. It only had 19 rushing yards on 21 attempts.

Romal Webb rushed 25 times for 141 yards and a touchdown to lead Jones (1-1). Quarterback Quaterius Hawkins was 13-of-29 passing for 123 yards and one touchdown. Jones only had two first downs in the second half.

Northeast Mississippi 13, Coahoma 10
Northeast Mississippi Community College forced six turnovers, and John Ellis Murrah kicked two field goals — including the game-winner with 3:59 left — to give the Tigers a hard-fought win over Coahoma Community College.

Andison Coby caught a 16-yard touchdown pass for Northeast, giving him five touchdowns in three games.

Zacchaeus Burnett recovered a fumble in the end zone for Coahoma’s only touchdown.

Northwest Mississippi 16, Itawamba 14
Michael Hiers threw two touchdown passes, and Northwest Mississippi (1-0) raced out to a huge lead before hanging on to beat Itawamba Community College.

Hiers threw a 21-yard TD pass to D.T. Sheffield and a 73-yarder to Keyon Fordham to give Northwest a 16-0 lead with 2:05 remaining in the first quarter. The Rangers never scored again, though, and Itawamba (0-2) mounted a comeback.

Tyler Day scored on a 3-yard run and Qua Davis caught a 59-yard TD pass from Loden Bolen with 8:10 left in the fourth quarter to cut it to 16-14. Davis finished with 10 receptions for 103 yards and a TD.

Northwest missed a field goal on its next possession, and Itawamba got the ball back with 6:33 to go. The Indians converted two third downs on a 15-play drive, but used up the entire clock to reach only the 30-yard line. Shane Lasher attempted a 47-yard field goal that was blocked as time expired, and Northwest escaped with the win.

Pearl River 28, East Central 21
Jakob Greer completed 11 of 16 passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns, and added 44 rushing yards as Pearl River Community College edged East Central Community College.

Seven different receivers caught a pass for Pearl River (1-2), led by Stetson Jones with five receptions for 70 yards and a touchdown. Four players had at least 40 rushing yards. Nick Milsap rushed for a team-high 49 yards and a touchdown.

Keyser Booth led East Central (2-1) with 54 rushing yards and one touchdown. Holman Edwards scored on a 56-yard touchdown run, and also threw a TD pass.