No. 14 EMCC Lions open division play and home slate with 54-10 win over Northeast Mississippi

SCOOBA -- The 14th-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College opened MACJC North Division play by scoring 41 unanswered points to break open a tight contest in the second half and cruise to a 54-10 victory over visiting Northeast Mississippi in their home opener Thursday night at Sullivan-Windham Field.

The two teams traded scores in the first half with the home-standing Lions striking first on their opening drive capped by De'Andre Johnson's 19-yard scoring run at the 12:29 mark.  The visitors promptly answered with a sustained drive that went 89 yards on 14 plays and took 7:22 off the clock.  Mason Cunningham's 9-yard touchdown toss to Toreano Miner with 5:07 remaining in the period knotted the score at 7-7 heading into the second quarter.

Northeast Mississippi pinned the Lions back on their own 1-yard line to begin the second quarter, but Johnson directed EMCC on an efficient 12-play drive that covered the 99 yards in just over three minutes.  Freshman running back Tyrell Price bulled in from two yards out at the 8:36 mark for his first of three rushing scores on the night to make it 13-7 after Taylor Crabtree's point-after-touchdown attempt was blocked.

Later in the quarter, the Tigers benefitted from Brooks Shannon's mishandling of a Northeast punt and converted the miscue into a 30-yard field goal by Austin Holloway to cut the deficit to 13-10 with four minutes remaining in the half.

EMCC's Johnson immediately went back to work and was a perfect 7-of-7 through the air, including four straight completions to Southeast Lauderdale product Damion Willis, on a 10-play, 62-yard drive that was capped by Price's 1-yard burst into the end zone.  A failed two-point conversion pass attempt kept the score at 19-10 heading into intermission.

Following the break, the Lions initially took advantage of some costly Northeast penalties while also creating some scoring opportunities during special teams play to produce two third-quarter touchdowns and adding three more scores in the fourth quarter.

On EMCC's first possession of the second half, a 22-yard run to midfield by Starkville product Jacques Horsley was supplemented by 30 yards of penalties following a late hit and resulting infraction on the Northeast bench.  Three plays later, Johnson scampered in from nine yards out on a keeper to increase the lead to 26-10 with 11:19 left in the third quarter.

The Tigers answered by mounting a potential scoring drive on their next possession.  After Northeast's drive stalled inside the red zone, Holloway's 26-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Dontavius Powell and returned 75 yards the other way by Duke Upshaw for the score and a 33-10 advantage.

On their next possession, the Lions ate up nearly five minutes of the game clock to march 93 yards on 16 plays.  A minute into the fourth quarter, Price's 5-yard scoring run marked his third touchdown of the evening to extend the margin to 30 points.

Following a three-and-out possession by Northeast, EMCC's special teams play struck again two minutes later.  A mishandled punt attempt by the Tigers deep in the zone was scooped up and advanced from the 5-yard line by Ja'Moz Mark resulting in another score to run the tally to 47-10.

Another three-and-out forced by EMCC's defense and a subsequent 41-yard punt return by Mario Lanier set up the game's final score with a little more than a minute remaining.  Keeping it in the family, Ja'Mori Mark broke off runs of nine and 30 yards to reach the MACJC's mercy rule margin of 38 points and complete the scoring at 54-10.                                 

Without a passing touchdown in a game for the first time during the Buddy Stephens era, the Lions rushed for six touchdowns in the contest and added the two scores on special teams to stretch their current winning streaks to 19 consecutive MACJC North Division wins dating back to the 2013 season and 18 straight home victories at Sullivan-Windham Field spanning back to 2012.  

EMCC had five different players with 30 or more rushing yards in the game, headed by freshman Brieton Sykes' 58 yards on six carries.

Johnson, the Lions' transfer quarterback from Florida State, was 24-of-37 through the air for nearly 300 yards passing.  He also ran for 37 yards and two touchdowns.  Willis was his top target on the night with six catches for 48 yards.  EMCC had 10 different players with pass receptions during the contest.   

The 2-1 EMCC Lions will continue division play by taking on the 10th-ranked Indians of Itawamba Community College next Thursday in Fulton.  Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at ICC's Eaton Field.