CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College football team will travel to Melbourne, Fla. on Saturday to face Florida Tech at Pirate Stadium. Kick-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Eastern, 12:00 p.m. Central.

The Choctaws (1-5, 0-3 GSC) are coming off a tough "Homecoming" loss to Valdostat State last Saturday, 62-0. Prior to that, MC picked up a 56-14 victory over University of Faith that saw senior Dylan Klibert score defensive touchdowns and force three turnovers. The LaPlace, La. native was named National Christian College Athletic Association Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week after picking off two passes and recovering a fumble, returning two for scores.

Junior running back Chris Ingram leads the MC offense with 325 rushing yards and three scores on the ground. The Southaven, Miss. native is averaging 4.0 yards per carry on 82 rushes this season. Sophomore Adrian Cerrato had a career day last Saturday, rushing for 57 yards on 12 carries. The Lake Worth, Fla. native also had a rushing touchdown in the victory over the Glory Eagles.

Freshman quarterback Kyle Smith has earned the starting job over the last four games and is second on the team with 221 yards on the ground and has a team-high four rushing touchdowns. The Petal, Miss. native played every snap in MC's 27-14 loss to Shorter, tossing a 62-yard touchdown pass to senior Jaime Harris, who leads the team with 12 catches for 175 yards and the score.

Defensively, the Choctaws are having to learn to live without the services of senior linebacker Jake Weddle, who was injured against Faith and will be out the rest of the season. Freshman linebacker Kaleb Coleman stepped into the starting spot last wee against Valdosta and tallied five tackles with his first career sack. Junior linebacker C.J. O'Quinn will also be looked upon to fill that void, and the Southwest MS CC transfer leads the team with 7.0 tackles for loss this year.

Sophomore defensive back Reggie Bennett has continued his stellar career, sitting second behind Weddle with 52 total tackles. He tallied 10 against the Blazers last Saturday. Also making an impact in the defensive backfield are freshman corners Jarrett Jenkins and Chris Manning. Jenkins has tallied 25 tackles with 1.0 TFL, while Manning has 17 tackles and picked off a pass against Lamar.

Freshman punter Matthew Turcotte has been impressive in his rookie season, averaging 44.9 yards on 18 kicks, landing six inside the 20-yard line with five punts going over 50 yards. MC's single-season record for average yards per punt came in 2000 when Wilson Hillman led the nation with a 43.1 average.

The Panthers (4-3, 1-2 GSC) are in just their second season as a program but have enjoyed success with wins over Division I-FCS Stetson, nationally-ranked Tarleton State and a near miss in last week's 34-31 loss to #4 North Alabama. Against the Lions, FIT had a 45-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds, but it went wide right and UNA held on for the victory.

Freshman quarterback Mark Cato make the offense tick and has been named the GSC Freshman of the Week five of seven times this season. He averaged 256.6 passing yards per game with 18 touchdowns and just six interceptions. Cato is completing 56% of his passes and is second on the team with 223 rushing yards and three scores on the ground.

Running back Trevor Sand is averaging over 100 rushing yards per game with seven scores and a 7.2 yards per rush average. He rushed for 191 yards and a touchdown in last week's loss to North Alabama. Wide receiver Xavier Milton leads the squad with 43 catches for 695 yards and five touchdowns, while Aaron George has a team-high seven touchdowns out of his 17 catches this season.

Defensively, Chris Stapleton leads the team with 50 tackles, including 6.0 for loss and three sacks. J.J. Sanders has a team-high 15.0 tackles for loss and six sacks to go along with three forced fumbles. Manny Abad, Leo Alba II and Tyler Rosenblatt each lead the team with two interceptions apiece.

Brion Ashley serves as the team's placekicker and punter, going 6-12 on field goals with a long of 41 on the season. He also averages 37.2 yards per punt with a long of 58 yards.

This will be the first-ever meeting between the Choctaws and the Panthers.