No. 7 East Mississippi steps out of division play with Thursday road outing against Jones County

SCOOBA – Stepping out of division play for the final time this regular season, the seventh-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College travel to Ellisville to take on the Jones County Junior College Bobcats Thursday evening.  Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Bobcat Stadium/Sim Cooley Field on the JCJC campus.    

Ranked seventh nationally in this week's NJCAA Top 20 football poll, head coach Buddy Stephens' 4-1 EMCC Lions have rebounded with three straight wins after dropping their first decision in nearly three years a month ago at now-No. 1 Copiah-Lincoln.  Since falling, 31-24 in overtime, at Co-Lin on Sept. 3, the two-time reigning NJCAA champions have knocked off MACJC North Division foes Coahoma (69-0), Northeast Mississippi (56-7) and most recently Itawamba (48-24) this past Saturday afternoon during Homecoming Weekend festivities on the Scooba campus.

Statistically as a team through the first five games, East Mississippi ranks second (behind Trinity Valley) among NJCAA teams in total offense with an average of 623 yards per game.  The Lions also stand third nationally in passing yards (375 yds/gm) and seventh in rushing yards (248 yds/gm).  Additionally, EMCC is ranked seventh among NJCAA team leaders in scoring offense averaging 53.2 points per game while sitting fourth nationally with an average of 28 first downs an outing.

Individually, EMCC's sophomore quarterbacking tandem of Wyatt Roberts and John Franklin III has collectively thrown 21 touchdowns with only two interceptions between them for the season.  Ten different receivers have caught at least nine passes on the year, highlighted by sophomore Allenzae Staggers' team-leading 24 receptions and four touchdown grabs.  Fellow sophomores Dario Robinson and Sammie Burroughs follow with 16 and 15 catches, respectively.

East Mississippi's potent running game boasts the talented trio of DJ Law (447 rushing yards), Jacquez Horsley (326) and Isaiah Wright (223), who have combined for nearly 1,000 yards on the ground and eight rushing touchdowns this season.  With both primary EMCC quarterbacks having also reached the century mark for rushing yards on the year, the Lions are averaging 7.7 yards per rushing attempt as a team.

In the kicking game, freshman placekicker/punter Grayson Pontius currently ranks third nationally with 50 total kicking points on 5-of-8 field goals and 35-of-36 extra-point attempts.  As a unit, the Lions have only punted nine times all season in contrast to 38 total punts by their five opponents to date.

Guided by second-year head football coach David Thornton, Jones County is 2-3 overall and 2-1 within the MACJC South Division.  After opening the season dropping non-division decisions to Northwest Mississippi (42-20) and Itawamba (21-20), the Bobcats earned consecutive division victories over Southwest Mississippi (27-14) and Pearl River (34-6) before falling at Mississippi Gulf Coast (37-27) last Thursday.

Coach Stephens owns a 4-1 career mark against Jones County in his eight seasons at the East Mississippi helm with those four wins all coming in Scooba during the last four meetings between the two teams.  A season ago during EMCC's 2014 Homecoming, the Lions blanked JCJC, 55-0, and the previous year claimed a 61-24 victory over the Bobcats in the 2013 MACJC State Championship Game.  Jones County handed Stephens his first EMCC loss (23-19 in Ellisville) during Week 2 of the 2008 campaign.     

With a career head coaching record of 72-11 at East Mississippi, including a 48-3 composite mark and three national titles since 2011, Stephens' EMCC teams are collectively 26-8 against MACJC South Division teams dating back to 2008 (17-4 in Scooba and 9-4 away from home). 

Thursday's EMCC-JCJC contest 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 Glen Beard set to serve as the Lions' sideline reporter.  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 are available in HD at www.EMCCathletics.com/live.  Alternate audio streams of the radio broadcasts are also 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.