The Northeast Mississippi Community College football team rolled to a 35-14 road win over Pearl River Community College, scoring all five of its touchdowns on the ground in the Tigers’ second straight five-touchdown game, according to a release from Northeast Athletics.
The win lifts Northeast to 3-5 on the 2026 season and sets up a Saturday trip to Coahoma Community College for a 2 p.m. kickoff. The Tigers played the game in Poplarville on Thursday, Oct. 15.
NEMCC football controls the ground game
Quarterback Xae Mayes and running back Micah Pledger led the way, combining for 187 rushing yards and two touchdowns apiece. Dee Bingham added a touchdown run for the fifth score. Team numbers from the box score show how lopsided the ground game was:
Northeast rushed for 242 yards, compared with 98 for Pearl River.
Mayes threw for 170 yards, and Jeremiah Thomas led the receivers with 71 yards.
Northeast held the ball for 33:53, to 24:27 for the Wildcats.
Each team committed one turnover.
“I thought the kids played extremely hard,” Northeast head coach Greg Davis said. “The offensive line played well, and we ran the ball extremely well.”
How the Tigers pulled away
The Northeast defense opened the night with a three-and-out, and the offense answered with a 78-yard drive. Mayes finished it with a 44-yard run for a 7-0 lead about four minutes into the game. Pearl River tied it at 7-7 after a 60-yard kickoff return set up a 17-yard rushing touchdown.
The Tigers took control from there. Mayes hit Charles Stevenson for 29 yards and Kelvin Walker for 21 before a 13-yard run made it 14-7. Pledger added a touchdown run in the second quarter, and Bingham’s score pushed the lead to 28-7. Jerone Baskin blocked a Pearl River field goal late in the half, and Northeast went to the break up 21.
The second half opened quickly. A 53-yard catch by Thomas flipped the field, and Pledger broke away for a 21-yard touchdown 45 seconds into the third quarter to make it 35-7. Pearl River scored on a near 20-yard run to cut the margin to 35-14, but the Wildcats did not score again.
“My mindset was really to dominate,” Pledger said. “O-Line was blocking great tonight, and we brought it all together.”
Defense closes the door
Northeast forced a turnover on downs early in the fourth quarter on a tackle for loss by J’Cameron Riley and Raiyen Oatis. Xavier Thomas later had a 10-yard sack on third down, and Pearl River never got past midfield for the rest of the game. Zay Hubbard sealed the win with an interception on the Wildcats’ final drive.
“Coach Cannon told us we had to start fast,” Hubbard said. “Before the game started Coach Cannon said it’s my turn to get a pick.”
Jon R Myers is the executive editor of Alcorn County News and the founder of the Mississippi News Group, which he started in 2013 to cover communities across North Mississippi. He also founded the Mississippi Sports Group in 2006, which grew from a single community publication into a statewide network covering high school and college athletics. He reports on local government, public safety, schools and community life in Corinth and Alcorn County, working from public meetings, agency records and interviews with the people involved. Contact him at editor@alcornnewsms.com with news tips or corrections. For a correction, include the article link and supporting source material.
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