Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1955-10-01
See Tigers
Suffering From
First Gameitiis" In
31-6 Loss To
Prairie View Sat.

First RameltlS' Is as good as
any diagnosis Of the Jackson Col
lege Tigers opener against q
strong Prairie View A. & M. Col
lege eleven at Prairie View Sat-
urday. In dropping a 31-6 verdict
to the Texans, the Tigers made a
good game Of it until the last
seven minutes of the contest.
Prairie View drew first blood mid
way of the second quarter, but
failed to make the extra point good.
Later in the same period a pass
from Witty to ODDS King was good
for 55 yards. Hill and Johnson
each picked up eight yards in two
trys and Stewart went over from
the one-inch line where the ball
had been placed because of
Prairie View penalty. Half time
score stood at 6-6. Jackson Col
lege received to open the second
half. Hill fumbled on the second
play and Prairie View recovered
deep in the Tigers territory and
scored two plays lated. Again
try for the point after touchdown
was no good. Thomas Stewart
then electrified the crowd as he
returned the Prairie View kick SO
yards before running out of gas.
The Tigers lost the ball on downs.
Going into the fourth period, the
score was still Prairie View II,
Jackson College 6. During this
period tumble by Stewart and a
fourth down bad pass by Smith led
to scoring opportunities by the
Panthers. Late in the fourth stan
"a, George Johnson intercepted a
Panther pass and ran it back SO
yards. The Tigers were unable to
take advantage of this and lost an
other scoring opportunity. The
final Panther touchdown came on
the last play of the game. Earlier
they had scored their fourth touch
down when Leroy Smith elected
to pass deep in Tiger territory.
The Tigers served notice, however,
on future Jackson College oppon-
ents by rolling up 81 yards on the
ground to Prairie Views 294. The
Tigers also completed five passes
good for 81 yards to Prairie
Views two passes good for 20
yards. The Tigers had nine in
complete passes to Prairie Views
II incomplete passes. Prairie View
fumbled three times on the Tigers
three, but recovered four fumbles
to only two for the Tigers. Jackson
College led in first downs IL to 10.
Ten of the Tigers first downs came
in the second half.
In discussing the game "Big
John" Merritt stated: "The boys
made some mistakes and we made
some too" He was referring to a
couple of substitutions that might
have gone another way as he re-
ferred to 1--WE" He could have
also referred to his starting lineup
since he now has decided, on the
basis of Saturdays play, that Jack
Witty will be the starting man
down under" until one of the
other quarterbacks comes up with
a better idea. Smith started the
contest Saturday, but Witty showed
that on the basis of experience and
defensive ability, he is the big guy
who should be up there against
tough foes. Merritt, Coleman and
Gillian are in agreement that their
work is cut out for them as they
prepare to play eight tough foes
in as many weeks. In order to
come out Of this schedule with a
favorable record, extra care will
be required to get Robert Hill,
All-MWAA fullback, and Willie
Neal ready. Coleman was not es-
pecially happy over the perform
ance of his substitute linemen Sat
urday. The long, hard grind that
the Tigers face, however, means
that he will be out to come up
with capable requirements.
The Tigers journey to Itta Bena