WESSON &045; On the other side was evidence of how it’s done.

Opposite Pearl River on an awfully bright Saturday afternoon was a team that’s trying to get it done. And you could probably bet a semester’s tuition money Co-Lin head coach Glenn Davis and his staff would have preferred to play for the first time in front of the home folks against someone other than Pearl River.

That, however, is the way the schedule fell. And the Wolves went back to work Monday on everything the Wildcats &045; ranked fourth in the nation &045; exposed in their 35-14 win in Week 3.

The Wolves (1-2) will return home Thursday to face Northwest Mississippi Community College.

&uot;They’re just an experienced ball club,&uot; Davis said. &uot;They’re a good club, and you’ve got to give them credit. We’re just a few athletes away from being a good ball club. If we can get the same kind of effort out of (our) kids, we’ll win some ball games yet.&uot;

The Wildcats couldn’t leave the field having the utmost satisfaction in their win. Sure, they out-gained Co-Lin 377 to 155 and had a standout effort from quarterback Jimmy Oliver, but the penalties negated any warm and fuzzy feelings on the ride home.

The Wildcats were flagged 13 times for 126 yards, and that’s not counting some three or four occasions where offsetting penalties wiped it off.

&uot;We just didn’t give 110 percent,&uot; PRCC head coach Tim Hatten said. &uot;Outside of that, we’re a good defensive ball club. We just kind of made mistakes. We didn’t look like a very well-coached team, but we’ll be OK. We’ll see what we’ve got the next few weeks and see if we’re for real or not.&uot;

The Wolves were inconsistent on both side of the ball on Saturday, and put some of the blame on a good Pearl River team that had weapons on offense and a solid defensive front. Not only was the speedy, strong-armed Oliver a problem, but the Wildcats had two sizeable targets that Co-Lin couldn’t match up with.

The 6-4, 210-pound James Hollingsworth finished with five catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns, while 6-5, 220-pound Larry Brackins had three catches for 47 yards and one touchdown.

Oliver finished likely just one connection to either shy of 300 yards.

&uot;We reached and grabbed him instead of hitting through him,&uot; Davis said. &uot;We’re missing a defensive lineman, and that’s really hurting us. But it’s nothing we can do. We’ll play a quarterback next week better than the one today.&uot;

The only blemish on Oliver’s day came at the start of the third quarter when he had a pass picked off by Corey Rhodes. The sophomore out of Mendenhall made the play on the ball to Oliver’s left, brought it down and ran 35 yards for a touchdown that gave the Wolves a 14-7 lead just inside the third quarter.

&uot;If you run it enough, you’ll fumble it,&uot; Hatten shrugged. &uot;If you throw it enough, you’ll throw some picks. He’s a gifted young man.&uot;

The play made Davis and his staff wonder what could have been. Pearl River did not play well in the first half, and that was the reason for the 7-7 score at the half. But the Wolves nearly failed to get on the scoreboard until 12 seconds left when Beau Billeck hit Daryl Johnson in double coverage in the end zone for a 26-yard touchdown pass.

It was the biggest highlight on a day where Billeck and backup Victor Williams struggled at times. Williams, a freshman from Clewiston, Fla., went in on three plays, one of which was a fumble recovered Pearl River’s Charles Brown that led to a touchdown.

&uot;We’ve got to get production out of our quarterback position,&uot; Davis said. &uot;They’re freshmen, too. It’s not their fault. We’ve got to play better all around them. We can’t have turnovers in that position, and we had three. We’ve got to find a way to get it to (Johnson) more. Right now he’s the best playmaker we’ve got.&uot;