Three-time reigning MACJC North Division Champion EMCC Lions set to open division football slate at Coahoma

SCOOBA – Champions of the MACJC's North Division five of the last six football seasons, the No. 1-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College open their 2014 division slate by traveling to Clarksdale to take on the Coahoma Community College Tigers Thursday evening.  Kickoff at James E. Miller Stadium is set for 7 p.m.

As the Lions prepare for their division opener on the road, sophomore linebacker Justin Lucas and freshman running back/kick returner DJ Law earned statewide recognition by collecting MACJC Player of the Week accolades for their respective efforts on defense and special teams during East Mississippi's 46-10 home win over then-No. 3 Copiah-Lincoln a week ago.  Lucas, from Aberdeen, recorded 15 total tackles, including two sacks for 14 yards, against the Wolfpack, while Law, out of Haines City, Fla., accounted for 251 all-purpose yards by averaging 47.3 yards on four kickoff returns and adding 62 rushing yards on 11 carries.

Along with Law ranking second nationally among NJCAA season statistical leaders with 231 total kickoff return yards as well as an average of 46.2 yards per return, EMCC features other players standing among national leaders through the first two weeks of action.  Offensively, transfer quarterback Chad Kelly, out of Clemson by way of Buffalo, N.Y., rates fifth nationally with seven touchdowns thrown and an average of 288 passing yards an outing.  His top target to this point on the year has been sophomore receiver Kameron Myers, who ranks eighth in the country with an average of 112 receiving yards per game.  Defensively for the Lions, LSU transfer Lorenzo Phillips is tied for third among the NJCAA ranks with 5.5 total sacks (for 33 yards) after just two contests.  

Presently sporting a 14-game winning streak dating back to last year's national championship season and winners of 34 of the last 36 contests since their school-first national title in 2011, head coach Buddy Stephens' 2-0 EMCC Lions opened the current campaign with non-division victories at Southwest Mississippi (52-14) and last week at home over Co-Lin.    

Under the guidance of first-year head football coach Karl Morgan, the Coahoma Tigers are looking for their first victory of the young season after falling, 36-6, at Pearl River during Week 1 and then dropping a 35-14 home decision to East Central a week ago.

Dating back to Coahoma's entrance into the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges in 1976, East Mississippi has prevailed in 37 of the previous 38 gridiron meetings between the two teams, including last year's then-record tying 90-7 homecoming triumph over the visiting Tigers.  A year ago against Coahoma, the Lions' 90-point effort was, at the time, tied for the second-best team scoring mark in recorded NJCAA football history.  A week after EMCC's 90-point explosion against Coahoma matched Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College's identical 90-7 victory over Highland in 2011, Rochester (Minn.) Community and Technical College knocked off Minnesota State Community and Technical College, 91-7, on Oct. 5 a year ago.

Now 58-10 (.853) overall and 33-3 (.917) in regular-season division play under Stephens' seven-year guidance, the Lions' six series wins over Coahoma during his tenure at the East Mississippi helm have come by an average margin of 42.5 points per meeting dating back to 2008.  Two years ago in Clarksdale, the 2012 EMCC squad prevailed, 48-17, while the Lions also previously posted road triumphs over the Tigers during the 2010 (49-14) and 2009 (49-20) campaigns.   

Through the years, Coahoma's lone football win over East Mississippi in the series history came by a 40-14 tally in Clarksdale during the 1994 season.   

Again this season, EMCC's football games will be broadcast live by WFCA-FM (107.9), out of French Camp, with Jason Crowder and Glen Beard set to describe the play-by-play action and John Lyle Briggs serving as the Lions' sideline reporter.  EMCC's 2014 football radio broadcasts are also slated to be carried live by SuperTalk Mississippi (WZKR-FM 103.3) and WMOX-AM (1010) out of Meridian. 

Throughout the season, EMCC's weekly live video-streamed football broadcasts (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/emcc-football) will be available in HD by accessing EMCC's athletics website, www.EMCCAthletics.com.  An alternate audio stream of the radio broadcast will also be available at www.wfcafm108.com.