Sports
Pearl River's athletic teams are called the Wildcats, and the football team won four straight Mississippi Association of Community & Junior Colleges (MACJC) championships (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006) since head coach Tim Hatten took over the program in 2002. Pearl River also won the 2004 National Championship of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) with the help of three NJCAA All-Americans, including wide receiver Larry Brackins, who was selected 155th overall by the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2005 NFL Draft; quarterback Jimmy Oliver, and offensive lineman Matt Lott. PRCC played for the 2006 NJCAA title in the Pilgrim's Pride Bowl Classic in Mt. Pleasant, Tex., but lost to Blinn College (Tex.) 19-6.
Brackins was a member of the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League, and the practice squad for the NFL New York Jets. While former Wildcat receiver Donavan Morgan plays with the AFL's Chicago Rush franchise after brief NFL stints with the New York Jets, Houston Texans, and Buffalo Bills. Larry Kendrick, Brackins' 2003 Wildcat teammate, signed on with the Ole Miss Rebels following the one-year stint at Pearl River and was an NJCAA All-American as a wide receiver and a defensive back, as well as being named the NJCAA's Male Athlete of the Year in 2003. Kendrick currently plays in the Arena 2 league.
PRCC's 2006 state title marked its 19th in school history, which is a record for Mississippi community colleges. Oliver guided the Wildcats to their 2004 and 2005 titles and earned NJCAA "Offensive Player of the Year" honors both seasons, including All-American accolades. Oliver played two seasons with Jackson State University, guiding the Tigers to the 2007 SWAC championship.
Pearl River won four MACJC state championships during the 2003-2004 school year in football, men's basketball under head coach Richard Mathis, women's soccer under former head coach Adam Breerwood, who is now Dean of Student Services at PRCC; and baseball under former head coach Jay Artigues, who is now head coach of the Southeastern Louisiana Lions. PRCC also won the 2005 MACJC women's soccer championship under former head coach Patrick Hayes.
Three former Wildcat players are currently in the NFL, including San Diego Charger wide receiver Demetrius Byrd (who also won the 2008 BCS National Championship with the LSU Tigers after playing for PRCC), Washington Redskin defensive linemen Cornelius Griffin, and Oakland Raider defensive back Hiram Eugene. Former PRCC basketball standout James Singleton played two seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and currently plays for the Washington Wizards.
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Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“In the end, I think you really only get as far as you’re allowed to get.”
—Gayle Gardner, U.S. sports reporter. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 87 (June 17, 1991)
“Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn,
Thy sports are fled and all thy charms withdrawn;
Amidst thy bowers the tyrant’s hand is seen,
And desolation saddens all thy green;
One only master grasps the whole domain,
And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain;”
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730?–1774)
“Come, my Celia, let us prove
While we may the sports of love;
Time will not be ours forever,
He at length our good will sever.”
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)