No. 1 and two-time reigning NJCAA Champion EMCC Lions set to host Southwest Mississippi Thursday in Scooba
In continued pursuit of making all-time junior college football history, the three-time NJCAA Champion Lions of East Mississippi Community College are set to kick off the 2015 campaign by playing host to Southwest Mississippi Community College Thursday evening on the Scooba campus. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at EMCC's Sullivan-Windham Field.
SCOOBA – In continued pursuit of making all-time junior college football history, the three-time NJCAA Champion Lions of East Mississippi Community College are set to kick off the 2015 campaign by playing host to Southwest Mississippi Community College Thursday evening on the Scooba campus. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at EMCC's Sullivan-Windham Field.
Entering the upcoming season winners of 24 consecutive games by virtue of back-to-back, undefeated national championship seasons, the preseason No. 1-ranked EMCC Lions are chasing the current NJCAA all-time standard of 26 consecutive wins set by Blinn College (Texas) during the three-year stretch between 1995 and 1997. With a four-year record of 44-2 dating back to a school-first national title in 2011, East Mississippi will also bid to become the first NJCAA football program to claim three straight national titles.
As the nation's top-ranked active NJCAA football coach for highest career winning percentage (.872) with a 68-10 overall record, eighth-year EMCC head football coach Buddy Stephens returns 19 lettermen, including seven starters, from last year's national championship squad that averaged 53.8 points per contest offensively (4th in NJCAA) and topped the NJCAA defensive ranks by allowing only 7.6 points a game. With five shutout victories for the second straight season a year ago, the Lions outscored the opposition, 515-38, during the 2014 regular season and did not allow a rushing touchdown until the postseason.
Headlined by sophomore running back DJ Law, East Mississippi returns five starters from last year's offensive unit that ranked fifth nationally producing an average of 537.1 total yards per outing. From Haines City, Fla., Law ranked second behind UT Martin signee Preston Baker with 561 rushing yards a year ago for the Lions while also hailing as EMCC's leading returning receiver with 33 catches for 350 yards as a freshman. Starting receivers Allenzae Staggers (Wilkinson County HS) and Dario Robinson (Amory) also return for EMCC with 29 and 20 receptions, respectively, last season, as do sophomore offensive linemen James Davis (Murrah HS) and Ethan Orr (Itawamba AHS).
Defensive back Jalen Boney (Petal HS) and defensive lineman Caleb Grant (Byhalia) hail as the lone returning defensive starters from a dominant East Mississippi stopper squad that limited the opposition to an average of just 198.1 yards of total offense (2nd in NJCAA) last season. Sophomore defensive linemen DeShawn Tillman (Bruce) and Ronald Ollie (Wayne County HS) also return for an EMCC defensive unit that ranked third nationally as a team with 58 total sacks and tied for third with 21 pass interceptions a year ago.
Guided by third-year head coach Tucker Peavey, the Bears of Southwest Mississippi were 3-5 last season with wins over eventual state runner-up Copiah-Lincoln (45-35), Coahoma (52-10) and East Central (38-14). A year ago, SMCC also dropped close road decisions to MACJC South Division foes Jones County (31-29) and Hinds (31-30).
Set to take on Southwest Mississippi for the fourth straight season, the EMCC Lions have collectively outscored the Bears, 180-20, during those three most recent gridiron meetings. East Mississippi prevailed in Summit last year, 52-14, to open the 2014 campaign. Previously, EMCC shut out visiting Southwest, 69-0, two years ago in Scooba, while claiming a 59-6 road triumph over the Bears during the 2012 season.
As the 2015 MACJC football season gets underway this week, Stephens' 68 career wins are equally divided at home and away from the Scooba campus. The Lions are 34-6 at home dating back to the 2008 season, including a 23-1 home mark since moving into their current 5,000-seat facility in time for the 2011 campaign. Likewise, EMCC has totaled 34 victories in 38 games played away from Sullivan-Windham Field over the past seven seasons.
EMCC's football games will be broadcast live by WFCA-FM (107.9), out of French Camp, with Jason Crowder and Charlie Winfield slated to call the play-by-play action and Jonathan Holmes set to serve as the Lions' sideline reporter this season. EMCC's 2015 football radio broadcasts will also be carried live by SuperTalk Mississippi (WZKR-FM 103.3) out of Meridian as well as through EMCC's new radio station, WGTC-FM (92.7), originating from the Golden Triangle campus in Mayhew.
In addition, EMCC's weekly live video-streamed football broadcasts will again be available in HD at www.EMCCathletics.com/live. Alternate audio streams of the radio broadcasts will also be available at www.wfcafm108.com. Fans are also encouraged to follow EMCC Athletics through the college's athletics website, www.EMCCathletics.com, and on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook (@EMCCathletics) via the school's social media hub at www.EMCCathletics.com/Social-Media-Hub.