No. 1 East Mississippi Lions welcome No. 12 Jones County for Homecoming 2014 and state championship rematch

SCOOBA – Featuring a rematch of last year's state championship football game of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC), the No. 1-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College welcome No. 12 Jones County Junior College for Homecoming 2014 Saturday afternoon on the Scooba campus.  Kickoff for EMCC's final non-division contest of the regular season is slated for 2 p.m. at Sullivan-Windham Field.

Along with the introduction of EMCC's 2014 Homecoming Queen and her court, halftime festivities of the Lions' Homecoming contest against the JCJC Bobcats will also feature the recognition of the school's 2014 Alumnus of the Year recipient (State Representative Jeff Smith) and Distinguished Service Award winner (the late State Senator Terry Brown).  Also to be recognized at halftime will be EMCC's 2014 Sports Hall of Fame induction class comprised of Thomas Adkins, George Belvin, LeGarrette Blount, Orlando Bobo, Ronnie Carter, William D. "Buddy" Conn, Lavertte "Junior" Files, Rick Garner, Tom Goode, James "J.J." Johnson, John Mason, Don Massey, Steve Moore, Eddie Permenter, Rod Richards, Antowain Smith, and Tommy Smith.

Winners of 37 of their last 39 contests and 19-1 at home dating back to the school's first of two national championships over the past three years, including a current 17-game overall winning streak, head coach Buddy Stephens' 5-0 EMCC Lions most recently blanked Itawamba, 51-0, last Thursday in Fulton for their first shutout of the current campaign.  The reigning NJCAA and MACJC champions opened the season with non-division victories over Southwest Mississippi (52-14) and Copiah-Lincoln (46-10) followed by consecutive division triumphs over Coahoma (83-7), Northeast Mississippi (65-7) and ICC to close out the month of September.

With East Mississippi having produced three more total touchdowns (41) for the year than the opposition has managed collectively in total points scored (38) through the first five games, the Lions have outscored their 2014 opponents by a composite margin of 297-38.  Including last year's 61-24 victory over then-No. 4 Jones County in the state championship game contested in Scooba, EMCC has tallied 45 or more points in 18 consecutive outings spanning back to the 2012 postseason.

For the season, the Lions have scored in all but one of their 20 quarters of football played thus far, including seven quarters with 20 or more points.  In contrast, they have held the opposition scoreless in 14 quarters on the way to ranking second nationally in team scoring defense by surrendering an average of only 7.6 points per game.  Additionally on defense, East Mississippi currently tops the NJCAA team statistical leaders with five pick-six pass interceptions, including four in the past two games, along with standing fourth nationally with 28 quarterback sacks.  EMCC continues to convincingly stop the run as well by not having allowed a rushing touchdown to this point while also holding the opposition to negative yardage per rushing attempt on the year.

Individually, sophomore quarterback Chad Kelly ranks third among NJCAA passing leaders with an average of 323 yards per game and fourth with 19 touchdowns thrown.  The Clemson transfer has also completed 66 percent of his passes with only three interceptions.  His top target, sophomore receiver Kameron Myers, stands seventh nationally averaging 104 receiving yards an outing.  The Charleston High School product has caught at least one scoring pass in all five games this season.

Defensively for the Lions, LSU transfer Lorenzo Phillips rates second among NJCAA pass rushers with 10 quarterback sacks, while Tupelo native Drew White sits third nationally among placekickers with 47 points scored on the season.

Guided by first-year head football coach David Thornton, who served the past two seasons under Ray Perkins as Jones County's offensive coordinator, the Bobcats are 4-1 overall and 2-1 in MACJC South Division play, after dropping a 42-3 home decision to now-No. 3 Mississippi Gulf Coast last week.   JCJC, previously ranked as high as fifth nationally this year, opened the season with victories over Northwest Mississippi (28-20), Itawamba (35-14), Southwest Mississippi (31-29) and Pearl River (21-14).  

EMCC's Stephens owns a 3-1 career mark against Jones County during his seven-year stint as head coach of the Lions, including a 3-0 home mark against the Bobcats.  Along with last year' state championship win over JCJC, the Lions previously claimed a 26-16 victory over Jones in the EMCC-hosted semifinals of the 2009 state playoffs en route to earning the school's first-ever state football title.  During Stephens' first two seasons at the East Mississippi helm, EMCC and JCJC split a pair of regular-season meetings with the Bobcats prevailing in Ellisville, 23-19, in 2008 and the Lions answering with a 28-17 home triumph the following year in Scooba.

Saturday's Homecoming contest between the EMCC Lions and visiting JCJC Bobcats will be broadcast live by WMOX-AM (1010) out of Meridian.  Jonathan Holmes and Glen Beard are set to describe the play-by-play action with John Lyle Briggs serving as the Lions' sideline reporter.  An alternate audio stream of the radio broadcast will also be available at www.wfcafm108.com courtesy of WFCA-FM Radio out of French Camp.

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.