Box Score Carrollton, GA - Top-ranked West Georgia moved to 9-0 on the season and 5-0 in Gulf South Conference play on Saturday afternoon at Robinson-Hale Stadium in Clinton, MS, rushing for more than 300 yards for the second-straight week en route to a 38-21 win over Mississippi College (2-6, 0-5 GSC).
Running back Lamarcus Franks led an array of backs with solid days at the office, as the junior picked up his second 100-yard game of the season with 109 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns. Redshirt freshman Devontae Jackson had a strong all-purpose day with six carries for 90 yards and three kickoff returns for 121 yards.
The opening quarter of the game was a strange one for the Wolves, but senior quarterback Dallas Dickey and his offense still marched down the field on the opening possession, scoring the first touchdown of the game on a 46-yard pass from Dickey to Qa Walker to lead 7-0. But Mississippi College drove right back down the field, taking eight plays to go 78 yards and finishing the drive with a 27-yard touchdown pass.
Both teams helped the opposing offense out with a penalty on third down in the two opening drives of the game, but after those two drives, the score was 7-7.
Jackson hit for the second big play of the day for the Wolves on the ensuing kickoff, returning the kick 79 yards to the MC20, giving Dickey the red zone to work with on his second drive. Franks took very little time reaching paydirt, rushing for 15 yards and then again for four for the score and a 14-7 lead for the Wolves.
Mississippi College then drove the ball down inside the Wolves red zone where the UWG defense stiffened, holding the Choctaws on 4th down inside the 20 and giving the ball back to the offense. Dickey then mounted a drive that reached the Mississippi College red zone before a fumble gave the ball back to MC. On the very next play, Walker Newsome hit Marcel Newson for a 71-yard bomb on a reverse pass, tying the game at 14-14 with more than 14:00 left in the first half.
From that point on, the Wolves scored 24 unanswered points from the 10:39 mark of the second quarter through the 11:41 mark of the fourth quarter, building a 38-14 lead in the process. Junior Hunter Heck, the only Division II kicker without a miss from field goal range this season, continued that streak by hitting his 10th field goal of the year, a 37-yarder in the third quarter.
Lamarcus Franks had two of the Wolves' touchdowns in that span and Dickey picked up his 19th career touchdown with a 19-yard scamper in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring for UWG. The final score of the game came when Da'Rell Freeman mishandled a punt and Newson returned the fumble for a touchdown to make the final 38-21.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Wolves held Mississippi College to less than 50 yards of total offense in the second half after giving up 235 yards, including 178 through the air in the first half. MC finished with 186 yards passing in the contest. Cornerback Laronji Vason was the Wolves' leading tackler with 10 stops, including seven solo.
West Georgia will now turn their sights on another newcomer to the Gulf South Conference, Florida Tech, next week in Melbourne, Fla. at Panther Stadium. This will be West Georgia's first trip to Melbourne, as the first two years of the series have been in Carrollton.
