POPLARVILLE — Regardless of Pearl River’s 1-3 overall and 0-1 MACJC South Division record thus far into the 2012 football season, the Wildcats remain in  the post-season playoff mix.

After dropping back-to-back contests to division rival Jones County 39-34 and last week’s shocking 34-24 non-division setback to then-winless Coahoma,  marking the first time in school history that the Tigers snatched a victory over the Wildcats in the 17-game series that dates back to 1980, The River will swap blows with winless division foe Southwest Mississippi (0-3, 0-1) Thursday in Summit.

Eleventh-year PRCC head coach Tim Hatten knows his team is at a “do or die” point of the season.

“We’re still in the mix for playoff contention, but we can’t afford to lose another one,” said Hatten, who has guided The River to four MACJC state titles  (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006) and an NJCAA national championship in 2004. “We’re at the mid point of the season with five straight division games left.

“It’s time for us to get it together...these are the games that count.”

Pearl River opened the season with a 35-15 non-division road loss to reigning MACJC and NJCAA national champ East Mississippi before bouncing back with  a convincing 44-29 road win over non-division foe Mississippi Delta. Then came the five-point setback to JCJC in the division opener and last week’s stunning defeat to then-winless Coahoma.

The Wildcats are eyeing an uncharacteristic 13-5 differential in turnovers, which is a key ingredient in all three of their losses thus far.

“That (turnovers) has got to end,” Hatten continued. “Thirteen turnovers in four games is horrible and we’ve managed to force only five. You’re not going  to win very many football games that way.”

Southwest Mississippi’s season-opening game against now-sixth-ranked North Division power Northwest Mississippi was cancelled due to Hurricane Isaac, but  now-12th-ranked Itawamba handed the Bears a 22-10 spanking in Week 2 before East Miss pounded their likes 59-6 the third week of the season. Last week, East Central took a 16-10 win in Decatur in SMCC’s South Division opener.

“They (Southwest) have struggled so far, but you can’t look past anybody in this league,” Hatten explained. “We proved that last week against Coahoma.  And Coahoma was a team that won only one game a year ago.”

Southwest, on the other hand, finished its 2011 campaign at 3-6 and 1-5.

A year ago, Pearl River took a hard-fought 27-20 victory over Southwest in Poplarville in both schools’ division opener.

The Wildcat-Bear rivalry

This week’s PRCC-SMCC match up marks the 71st meeting between the two schools in a rivalry that dates back to 1932 when the Wildcats took a 20-7 victory.  Pearl River holds a 54-13-3 win-loss-tie advantage over Southwest.

After the inaugural game, the two teams didn’t resume the series until 1937 when PRCC won 27-20. Even though the Bears battled the Wildcats to 0-0, 6-6,  and 7-7 deadlocks in 1939, 1950, and 1955, respectively, it wasn’t until 1958 that Southwest won 26-6 to take its first victory over PRCC.

In 2000, Pearl River clipped the nationally-ranked Bears with a 20-17 upset victory just days after then-Wildcat head coach Keith Daniels died of a brain  hemorrhage. Most football experts were stumped as to how the Wildcats would handle the situation, but what resulted was an emotional win when currently PRCC head soccer coach Jack Byrd, a Picayune High recruit who went on to star at Ouachita Baptist (Ark.)  University, booted a 30-yard field goal with 16 seconds left. The Bears had won three straight over the Wildcats prior that year’s victory.

Southwest finished its 2000 campaign at 9-3 overall under former head coach Ken Edenfield after losing to Hinds 27-17 in the state championship game. The  Bears’ 4-2 division mark that season propelled them into the postseason playoffs and a 46-14 first-round victory over Itawamba. In 2001, Green, Edenfield’s offensive line coach, took over the head coaching duties before relinquishing the job to current head  coach Charles Anthony in 2006.

PRCC defeated Southwest 36-9 in Poplarville in 2002, then the Wildcats took a 14-6 road victory in 2003, a 38-0 shutout in 2004's national championship  season, a 40-7 blowout in 2005, and a 31-0 shutout in 2006's Homecoming game.

In 2007, Bear DB Myrio Cotton returned an interception 90 yards for a touchdown with less than five minutes left to give Southwest a 24-17 division victory  in Summit. In addition, SMCC’s Roteddrick Cotton returned the game’s opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown.

In 2008, Pearl River won a 50-20 blowout in Summit and took a lopsided 43-7 victory in 2009’s Homecoming game in Poplarville before picking up a 35-21  road win in 2010.

In Other MACJC Action Last Week

In other Week 4 South Division action, Copiah-Lincoln (3-1, 2-0) smacked 16th-ranked Hinds (2-2, 1-1) in Raymond, East Central (1-3, 1-1) trimmed winless Southwest Mississippi (0-3, 0-1)  16-10 in Decatur, and Jones County (3-1, 2-0) shocked top-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast (3-1, 1-1) 35-28 in Ellisville. In the North, reigning MACJC and NJCAA national champ and No. 4-ranked East Mississippi (4-0, 1-0) demolished winless Mississippi Delta  (0-4, 0-2) 56-0 in Scooba, Holmes (2-2, 2-0) nipped 12th-ranked Itawamba (3-1, 1-1) 14-12 in Fulton, and sixth-ranked Northwest Mississippi (3-0, 2-0) slipped by Northeast Mississippi (1-3, 0-2) 19-13 in Booneville.

Other MACJC Action Set For This Week

This Thursday in the North Division, Coahoma hosts East Mississippi in Clarksdale and Northwest Mississippi hosts Itawamba in Senatobia, while on Saturday, Holmes hosts Mississippi for  its homecoming in Goodman. Thursday in the South, Co-Lin hosts Jones County in Wesson and Southwest hosts Pearl River in Summit, while on Saturday, East Central hosts Hinds for its homecoming in Decatur. Mississippi Gulf Coast hosts Northeast Mississippi Thursday  in Perkinston for the only intra-divisional match up of the week.