FULTON — The No. 19 Itawamba Community College football team will kick off the 2013 season Thursday, Aug. 29, against East Central C.C. at Easton Field in Fulton.
The Indians’ nine-game schedule includes a road trip to defending Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) champion Copiah-Lincoln C.C. and home games against Mississippi Delta C.C., Northwest Mississippi C.C., and Northeast Mississippi C.C.
“It’s the same tough schedule that everyone has in this league,” said ICC coach Jon Williams, whose team is one of four from the state of Mississippi to be ranked in the JC Gridiron’s preseason poll. “We’ll have to be good week in and week out to have a shot at the end (of the season).”
ICC will honor past and current members of the armed forces on Military Appreciation Night in its opener against East Central C.C. Special activities are planned prior to the game as well as a salute during halftime. Admission will be free to all past and current armed forces members and their families.
On Sept. 5, ICC will travel to Southwest Mississippi C.C. before opening MACJC North Division play in Fulton against Mississippi Delta C.C. on Sept. 12. ICC will be on the road Sept. 19 against Holmes C.C.
ICC will play host to No. 21 Northwest Mississippi C.C. at 4 p.m. Sept 28 for Homecoming in the first of two Saturday dates this season. A pregame ceremony will feature the induction of the 2013 ICC Athletic Hall of Fame members and Alumnus of the Year and the crowing of the Homecoming Queen at halftime.
ICC will hit the road for back-to-back weeks for games against Copiah-Lincoln C.C. on Oct 3 and a matchup against Coahoma C.C. at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct 12.
ICC will look to win its fourth game in a row against Northeast Mississippi C.C. on Oct 17 in its final home game of the season.
ICC will close the regular season Thursday, Oct 24, with a game against No. 6 East Mississippi C.C. in Scooba. Last season, the Indians beat the Lions 24-23 on a 43-yard field goal by Tyler Jackson, who earned MACJC and National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Special Teams Player of the Week honors and was recognized as the JUCO Player of the Week by ESPNU’s Unite. Jackson is now a kicker at Brigham Young University.
The Indians, who went 6-3 last season, will play four home games and five road games in 2013. Seven of the nine games are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. They will face three teams that participated in bowl games or postseason play last season.
In three seasons under Williams, the Indians are 15-12 and have missed the playoffs due to MACJC tiebreaker rules in two of the three seasons.
“We’ve got a good nucleus coming back from last year’s team, so I’m really excited,” Williams said. “The things you worry about as a head coach is the unity, the chemistry and also the leadership, but hopefully June was good for developing some of that and gave them a lot to think about during the month of July.”
ICC is scheduled to report to Aug. 4.
“We’ll start with a three-day acclamation period that is required by the NJCAA and then we will get with it,” Williams said. “This year the start of school has been moved back, so we are able to have a legitimate two-a-day camp with just football because we’ve got a lot of work to do, but we are really excited about the group that we have coming back and those new guys coming in.”
WAFM 95.7 FM will broadcast all of ICC’s games this season. The Davis Ford Pregame Show will start 20 minutes before kickoff. Live streaming of this year’s game will be available on www.LetsGoICC.com.
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