No. 1 East Mississippi reaches midpoint of MACJC regular season by taking 16-game win streak to Itawamba

SCOOBA – Having reached the midpoint of their regular-season football slate, the No. 1-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College travel to Fulton to meet MACJC North Division foe Itawamba Community College Thursday evening on the ICC campus.  Kickoff at ICC's Eaton Field is set for 7 p.m.

Sporting a current 16-game winning streak that spans back to last year's second national championship in three seasons, head coach Buddy Stephens' 4-0 EMCC Lions return to the site of the program's most recent regular-season setback with Thursday's visit to Itawamba.     A 43-yard field goal by ICC's Tyler Jackson with 16 seconds remaining two years ago in Fulton snapped East Mississippi's 20-game win string that had dated back to the school's first national title in 2011.

Now 60-10 (.857) overall and 35-3 (.921) in MACJC North Division play during Stephens' seven seasons at the EMCC helm, the Lions' 24-23 setback at Itawamba in 2012 still stands as the program's lone loss in 19 division road outings since 2008.  

Collectively 36-2 over the last four seasons, this year's East Mississippi squad followed season-opening, non-division wins over Southwest Mississippi (52-14) and then-No. 3 Copiah-Lincoln (46-10) with recent resounding triumphs over division opponents Coahoma (83-7) and Northeast Mississippi (65-7).  During their previous two division outings, the Lions outscored Coahoma and Northeast by a combined margin of 71-7 during first-quarter play and owned a composite halftime advantage of 120-14.

For the year, EMCC has outscored the opposition by an average margin of 52 points per game, ranking third nationally in scoring at 61.5 points an outing as well as standing fourth among NJCAA teams allowing just 9.5 points per contest.  Since their one-point setback at Itawamba during the 2012 regular-season finale, the Lions have tallied 45 points or more in 17 consecutive contests, including seven games with 60 or more points.

Statistically on offense, EMCC ranks fourth nationally in total offense with an average of 562.3 yards per contest despite having played the majority of second halves in three of the first four games this year utilizing a running game clock due to the MACJC's newly implemented mercy rule.  With four different players averaging at least 6.4 rushing yards per carry, the Lions trail only Trinity Valley among NJCAA team leaders by averaging right at seven yards per rushing attempt.

Defensively on the season, East Mississippi has yet to surrender a rushing touchdown through the first four games and currently leads the NJCAA in rushing defense.  The Lions have held their last two opponents (Coahoma and Northeast) to negative yards rushing.  In addition, EMCC's stopper squad stands third nationally with 21 quarterback sacks and has been credited with 47 total tackles behind the line of scrimmage.  Along with presently topping the NJCAA with four defensive touchdowns, including three pick-six pass interceptions for scores during last week's win over Northeast, EMCC owns a +9 collective turnover margin for the year.  The Lions had not committed a turnover this season until last week's pair of interceptions and a lost fumble against NEMCC.

Under the guidance of first-year head coach Sean Cannon, Itawamba is 1-3 overall and 1-1 in division play on the year after dropping a 45-31 decision at Northwest Mississippi this past Saturday in Senatobia.  After opening the year with non-division road setbacks to nationally ranked Copiah-Lincoln (37-13) and Jones County (35-14), the Indians got into the win column by claiming a 19-3 home decision over division foe Holmes two weeks ago.

In the recent series history between the two rivals, East Mississippi has prevailed in six of the last seven head-to-head gridiron meetings with Itawamba dating back to the 2007 campaign.  EMCC's Stephens is 5-1 against ICC during his tenure at the Scooba helm, including last year's 59-13 home victory over the Indians and previous wins in Fulton during the 2009 (28-6) and 2010 (37-10) campaigns.   

Throughout this football 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. 

In addition, 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.