EMCC Lions announce 2020 football schedule
On the heels of claiming five NJCAA national championships and winning 87 percent of their games during the 2010s, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College are scheduled to kick off the new decade with an eight-game 2020 regular-season football slate comprised of four home games and four road contests.
SCOOBA – On the heels of claiming five NJCAA national championships and winning 87 percent of their games during the 2010s, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College are scheduled to kick off the new decade with an eight-game 2020 regular-season football slate comprised of four home games and four road contests.
Because of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the scheduled kickoff of the upcoming MACJC football season has been pushed back two weeks to Sept. 10. Also shortened by one week, the MACJC's eight-game regular season is slated to conclude the last week of October with conference playoff action set for the first two Saturdays of November (7th & 14th).
EMCC's revised 2020 football schedule is set to begin with alternating road and home games through the season's first five weeks. The Lions are slated to open the regular season on the road against nearby rival East Central Community College on Thursday, Sept. 10. Kickoff for the EMCC-ECCC season opener is set for 6:30 p.m. at Bailey Stadium in Decatur.
Winners of nine MACJC North Division regular-season football championships in the previous 12 seasons under head coach Buddy Stephens, including seven titles coming during this past decade, the Lions' 2020 division slate is set to begin with a Sept. 17 home contest against Mississippi Delta Community College. EMCC's home opener versus the Trojans is slated for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Sullivan-Windham Field on the Scooba campus.
After closing out the team's September slate with a visit to Goodman to take on the Bulldogs of Holmes Community College on Thursday, Sept. 24, the EMCC Lions will start their five-game month of October by welcoming reigning conference runner-up Northwest Mississippi Community College to Scooba on Oct. 1.
East Mississippi's busy October schedule will roll on with two more road divisional contests followed by a pair of home tilts to close out the regular season. After Thursday road trips to Booneville and Clarksdale to meet Northeast Mississippi and Coahoma on Oct. 8 and 15, respectively, the Lions will play host to MACJC South Division foe Copiah-Lincoln Community College in a Saturday afternoon (Oct. 24) homecoming matchup set for a 2 p.m. kickoff in Scooba. EMCC will then stay at home to conclude the regular season with an Oct. 29 division contest against the Indians of Itawamba Community College.
With the top two teams from the MACJC's North and South Division regular-season standings advancing to the conference semifinals on Saturday, Nov. 7, the 2020 MACJC/Region 23 championship football game will be played the following Saturday (Nov. 14) at a site to be determined by the semifinal-round results.
Looking to return to the championship scene following last year's 6-4 campaign, the EMCC Lions still managed to make their 11th MACJC playoff appearance in Stephens' 12 years a season ago before falling to eventual state and national champion Mississippi Gulf Coast in the state semifinals. East Mississippi also extended its current streak of being ranked in 118 consecutive NJCAA polls over the entirety of the past nine seasons, which dates back to the preseason poll of the program's first national championship season in 2011.
Showcasing an overall 12-year head coaching record of 116-17 (.872), including a 66-6 (.917) division mark, Stephens has guided the Lions to five NJCAA national championships (2011, '13-14 & '17-18), seven MACJC state titles (2009, '11, '13-14 & '16-18) and nine MACJC North Division regular-season crowns (2008-09, '11-16 & '18).
2020 EAST MISSISSIPPI COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Thurs., Sept. 10 – at East Central – Decatur – 6:30 p.m.
Thurs., Sept. 17 – MISSISSIPPI DELTA* – SCOOBA – 7:00 p.m.
Thurs., Sept. 24 – at Holmes* - Goodman – 6:30 p.m.
Thurs., Oct. 1 – NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI* - SCOOBA – 7:00 p.m.
Thurs., Oct. 8 – at Northeast Mississippi* - Booneville – 6:30 p.m.
Thurs., Oct. 15 – at Coahoma* - Clarksdale – 7:00 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 24 – COPIAH-LINCOLN (Homecoming) – SCOOBA – 2:00 p.m.
Thurs., Oct. 29 – ITAWAMBA* - SCOOBA – 7:00 p.m.
*-MACJC North Division games
(HC)-EMCC Homecoming 2020