No. 14 EMCC Lions to close out regular season with homecoming matchup versus Northeast Tigers

SCOOBA – Bidding for their 11^th MACJC playoff appearance in the last 12 seasons, the 14^th-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College will close out the regular-season portion of their football slate by playing host to Northeast Mississippi Community College on Saturday afternoon as part of homecoming festivities on the Scooba campus.  Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. at EMCC's Sullivan-Windham Field.

A win over Northeast on Saturday would give EMCC the No. 2 seed in the MACJC's North Division standings and a berth in the upcoming state playoffs.  With Holmes' 49-16 victory at Coahoma and Itawamba's 22-21 upset win at second-ranked Northwest Mississippi on Thursday, Northwest, Holmes and Itawamba all finished with 4-2 division records.  According to the MACJC's tiebreaker rules for a four-team tie, overall records are used to determine the division champion and runner-up.  Following Thursday's conference action, Northwest is 7-2 overall, followed by Itawamba (5-4) and Holmes (4-5).  The EMCC Lions, two-time defending national champions and three-time reigning state champions, are 5-3 overall and 3-2 in division play heading into Saturday's game against Northeast.  

In the MACJC's South Division, nationally top-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast (9-0, 6-0) secured the division title with Thursday's 31-21 win at sixth-ranked Hinds.  Ninth-ranked Jones College (7-2, 5-1) locked down the MACJC South's No. 2 seed with Thursday's 35-13 home victory over East Central.  The semifinals of the 2019 MACJC football playoffs will take place next Saturday (Nov. 2) with MACJC North top seed Northwest playing host to No. 2 MACJC South seed Jones and No. 1 MACJC South seed Gulf Coast entertaining the MACJC North's No. 2 seed (EMCC or Itawamba).  The MACJC championship game will be played on Saturday, Nov. 9.       

Along with the introduction of EMCC's 2019 homecoming queens from the Scooba and Golden Triangle campuses and the homecoming court, Saturday's festivities will also feature the recognition of the school's 2019 Alumnus of the Year (Dr. Glenn Peters) and Distinguished Service Award recipients (Buster and Jeanie Orr).  Also to be recognized this weekend during a Friday night banquet and Saturday alumni luncheon on the Scooba campus will be EMCC's 2019 Sports Hall of Fame induction class comprised of Rodney Batts, Chris Chism, Martin Francis, Ikeler M. (Boy) Latimer, Richard Poole, John Rice Sr., Bo Wallace and David H. White Jr.     

Coach Buddy Stephens' EMCC Lions (5-3, 3-2) enter their regular-season finale having most recently snapped their two-game losing skid with last week's 55-20 road win over the Coahoma Tigers in Clarksdale.  Prior to that, the Lions saw their seven-year, 36-game home winning streak come to an end by dropping a 56-36 decision to Northwest Mississippi on Oct. 3.  That defeat was followed by a 49-42 setback at Holmes a week later to give EMCC two consecutive regular-season losses for the first time since 2010.  After opening the current campaign by having their 17-game overall win string snapped with a 24-16 setback at Hinds back on Aug. 29, the Lions posted an undefeated month of September with consecutive victories over Pearl River (49-15), Itawamba (48-3), Mississippi Delta (41-23) and East Central (24-0).    

Statistically as a team on the year, East Mississippi entered the week ranked fifth among the NJCAA leaders averaging a state-best 38.9 points per game.  In addition, the Lions rank second nationally in both total offense (488.5 yds/gm behind Kilgore) and passing yards (328.4 yds/gm behind Navarro).

Individually for EMCC, transfer quarterback Connor Neville (Beaverton, OR) currently ranks second among the NJCAA statistical leaders with an average of 280.1 passing yards per contest.  In addition, the Washington State transfer rates fifth nationally in pass completion percentage (64.3%) and is tied for eighth in the country with 17 touchdown passes for the year.

On the receiving end for the Lions, sophomore Jason Brownlee continues to lead the NJCAA with 60 receptions on the year while ranking second nationally in receiving yards per game (109.8 yds/gm) and also with 11 touchdown catches on the season.  The West Point product owns five 100-yard receiving efforts for the year and has caught at least one touchdown pass in all eight games.  In addition, fellow EMCC sophomore receivers Pervis Frazier (Louisville) and Austin Morphis (Pontotoc) presently rank seventh and 12^th nationally with 42 and 37 receptions, respectively.  

Guided by fifth-year head football coach Greg Davis, the 3-5 Northeast Tigers (2-3 in MACJC North) opened the 2019 season by alternating wins and losses for the first half of the year before dropping three straight decisions during the month of October (20-13 at Mississippi Delta, 35-3 at Jones and 41-17 to Northwest last week in Booneville).  Northeast's three wins on the year have come over Southwest Mississippi (19-13 in OT), Coahoma (26-17) and Itawamba (14-12).  The Tigers also dropped close decisions by nearly identical scores to Copiah-Lincoln (14-7) and Holmes (14-6) during the month of September.        

Sporting an overall head coaching record of 115-16 (.878) and MACJC North Division mark of 65-6 (.915) in his 12^th season with the EMCC Lions, Stephens owns a 10-1 career record against Northeast Mississippi (4-1 in Scooba & 6-0 in Booneville).  Last season (Oct. 25) in Booneville, the Lions closed out their 2018 regular-season slate with a 26-7 road win over the Tigers in a contest that was plagued by steady rain and sloppy field conditions at Tiger Stadium.  EMCC previously blanked Northeast, 59-0, two years ago (Sept. 14, 2017) in Booneville.  In the most recent Scooba meeting between the two teams, the Lions claimed a 54-10 victory over the visiting Tigers during the 2016 season (Sept. 15) at Sullivan-Windham Field.    

Saturday's regular-season finale between the EMCC Lions and the Northeast Tigers will be broadcast live by WFCA-FM (107.9), out of French Camp, with Jason Crowder and Jonathan Holmes slated to provide the play-by-play and color commentary, respectively, while Glen Beard is set to handle sideline reporting duties.  The Lions' 2019 football radio broadcasts are also carried live by SuperTalk Mississippi (WZKR-FM 103.3), out of Meridian, as well as through EMCC's campus 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.wfca.fm.