NEW MADRID -- New Madrid County Central lost its first game of the 2002 season on Friday night, falling hard to Jonesboro, Ark., 37-0.
The Eagles struggled in several phases of the game, checking in with just 149 yards of total offense.
"We ran into a very good football team tonight," said NMCC head coach Steve Rogers. "We didn't block or tackle very well at all, and when we did move the ball, we wound up shooting ourselves in the foot by turning it over."
On defense, NMCC had trouble wrapping the Golden Hurricanes up, especially sophomore tailback Cowan Hutson and athletic quarterback Jim Harris.
Running the mid-line option, Jonesboro racked up 478 yards on the ground on just 44 carries. Hutson finished with 160 yards on 13 attempts, scoring three touchdowns.
Harris collected 117 yards on 10 carries.
"We were real worried coming in with the reputation (NMCC) had," said Jonesboro coach Jim DeVazier. "They are similar to some of the teams we play in Arkansas, and we haven't done real well against those teams. Our kids played good defense tonight and we were lucky enough to win."
Jonesboro took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter off a 10-yard TD run by fullback Wilford Vincent, followed by the PAT from kicker Matt Miller.
The Golden Hurricanes added another score in the second quarter as Hutson busted loose for a 53-yard TD run.
After an NMCC fumble, Miller ended the first half with a 41-yard field goal at the buzzer to give Jonesboro a 17-0 halftime lead.
"That field goal was a good emotional boost for us," said DeVazier. "We knew we were going to get the ball back coming back out."
NMCC had just 63 yards of offense in the first half while the visiting team had 258.
"They were solid all the way around," said Rogers. "They had two good quarterbacks, a couple of good running backs, a couple of good fullbacks and their kicker hit a 41-yard field goal. They had a real good ballclub."
Jonesboro opened the second half with the most impressive drive of the game, covering 69 yards while eating over seven minutes off the clock.
Hutson finished the drive with a seven-yard TD run, then broke off a 28-yarder later in the quarter to make it 30-0. NMCC followed that up with a 76-yard drive, but failed to punch it in, fumbling on the 5-yard line.
"Our defense is probably going to have to be our game this year," said DeVazier. "We're going to play good defense, then just do the best we can offensively. They played good tonight."
In the fourth quarter, Jonesboro tacked on another touchdown with a six-yard run from Darius Young. Remond Willis led NMCC on the ground with 103 yards on 15 carries.
NMCC (0-1) will host Cape Central this Friday at 7:30 p.m. "We're going back to the drawing board," said Rogers. "We are very young. We're going to get better as the season progresses and try to defend the district title again."