Top-ranked EMCC Lions to meet No. 2 Iowa Western in Sunday's Mississippi Bowl VII for 2014 NJCAA Football Championship

SCOOBA – Looking to defend their NJCAA football championship and bidding for the program's third national title in four years, the top-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College will take on No. 2 Iowa Western Community College in the 2014 NJCAA Football Championship Game, Sunday, Dec. 7 in Biloxi, Miss.  Pitting the most recent junior college football champions, Mississippi Bowl VII is set for a 2 p.m. kickoff at Biloxi Indian Stadium.                        

Guided by seventh-year head coach Buddy Stephens, unbeaten East Mississippi will carry a 23-game winning streak into Sunday's national title game that dates back to last year's national championship campaign.  Spanning back to their first-ever NJCAA football title in 2011, the EMCC Lions have prevailed in 43 of their last 45 contests over the past four seasons.

The Reivers ("River Pirates") of Iowa Western, coached by Scott Strohmeier, are also 11-0 on the year and aiming for their second NJCAA crown in three years.  Since starting up the school's football program in time for the 2009 season, IWCC has put together a composite six-year record of 56-9, including a national championship in 2012 with a 27-7 win over Butler (Kan.) Community College in the Graphic Edge Bowl played in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Players and coaches from both national championship game squads are set to participate in a Friday night dinner hosted by Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.  Both teams will then take part in scheduled community service activities Saturday in the Biloxi area while also engaging in final pre-bowl preparations.  Additional information on Mississippi Bowl VII and the weekend activities surrounding Sunday's NJCAA Football Championship Game, including ticket information, can be found online at www.mississippibowl.com.

Sunday's title game pitting the NJCAA's top two football teams is scheduled to be video-streamed live via NJCAA TV/Team 1 Sports.  In addition, the EMCC-IWCC matchup will be broadcast live on WFCA-FM (107.9), out of French Camp, with Jason Crowder and Glen Beard describing the play-by-play action, and John Lyle Briggs serving as the Lions' sideline reporter.  The game's radio broadcast will also be carried live by SuperTalk Mississippi (WZKR-FM 103.3) and WMOX-AM (1010) out of Meridian. 

Owners of a 12-1 collective mark against Top 5 opponents during the Stephens era, this year's EMCC squad most recently switched spots with Iowa Western in the NJCAA Top 20 national poll after the Lions disposed of a pair of Top 10 teams en route to collecting their fourth Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges/NJCAA Region 23 championship in six years.  After earning a 42-21 home win over then-No. 5 Mississippi Gulf Coast in the MACJC State Semifinals on Nov. 1, EMCC then went on the road the following Saturday to post a convincing 54-15 victory over 10^th-ranked Copiah-Lincoln.  The Lions' previous three state championship game wins all came at home on the Scooba campus last year as well as in 2011 and 2009.

East Mississippi also stands as the nation's top-ranked junior college football team in both the JCGridiron.com Dirty 30 Rankings and the JCFootball.com/JC Grid-Wire National Top 25.  Both polls feature teams from the talent-laden California Community College Athletic Association as well as including NJCAA member schools.  Iowa Western ranks fourth nationally in both JCGridiron.com and JCFootball.com, with Trinity Valley (Texas) CC and the City College of San Francisco (Calif.) sandwiched between at second and third, respectively.           

Sunday's matchup of the nation's top two teams will mark the seventh straight year for the renewed NJCAA Football Championship Game to determine the football champion of the National Junior College Athletic Association.  Along with attempting to become the first repeat NJCAA football champion since Butler shared the 2007 title with Mississippi Gulf Coast and won the national championship game the following year, East Mississippi Community College will also bid to claim a third crown in a shorter span of time (four years) than any other member school in the history of the NJCAA.  Butler, which won or shared five national titles between 1998-2008, and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M jointly hold the all-time mark with six NJCAA football championships apiece.

Having now been ranked either first or second nationally in 18 consecutive NJCAA polls, including preseason and postseason, dating back to Week 7 of last season, the EMCC Lions claimed both of their previous national championships while holding down No. 2 national rankings in the NJCAA poll.  Last year in knocking off then-No. 1 Georgia Military College, 52-32, at the Mississippi Bowl in Biloxi, they were able to stay within the Magnolia State to compete for a national title because GMC did not have a postseason bowl tie-in.  In the 2011 NJCAA Football Championship Game, East Mississippi had to venture to Yuma, Ariz., to earn a 55-47 road victory over then-No. 1 Arizona Western College.  The Lions' first bowl appearance under Stephens' direction resulted in a 27-24 triumph over sixth-ranked Arizona Western at Mississippi Bowl II in 2009.

Sporting an impressive seven-year composite record of 67-10 and sparkling 87.0 winning percentage under Stephens' leadership, East Mississippi rates as the third-winningest NJCAA football program dating back to the 2008 campaign.  During that stretch, the EMCC Lions trail only Butler CC (69-12) and Navarro (Texas) College (68-13) among the country's most successful football programs affiliated with the National Junior College Athletic Association.   

With only a pair of one-point setbacks during back-to-back weeks to close out the 2012 campaign blemishing EMCC's 43-2 worksheet since 2011, the Lions' current 23-game win string rates as the longest such streak since Pearl River Community College's 23-game run set between 2003-05.  EMCC's Stephens was an assistant coach for the PRCC Wildcats during their successful run a decade ago of four consecutive MACJC State/NJCAA Region 23 championships (2003-06) and an NJCAA title in 2004.