No. 11 EMCC returns home to host Holmes; Sports Hall of Famers to be recognized
Fresh off a pair of convincing road wins, the 11th-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College return home to play host to the Holmes Bulldogs during Thursday night MACCC football action on the Scooba campus. With kickoff set for 7 p.m. at Sullivan-Windham Field, Thursday’s EMCC-Holmes contest will also feature the 10 newest members of EMCC’s Sports Hall of Fame being recognized during halftime festivities.
SCOOBA – Fresh off a pair of convincing road wins, the 11th-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College return home to play host to the Holmes Bulldogs during Thursday night MACCC football action on the Scooba campus. With kickoff set for 7 p.m. at Sullivan-Windham Field, Thursday's EMCC-Holmes contest will also feature the 10 newest members of EMCC's Sports Hall of Fame being recognized during halftime festivities.
East Mississippi's Class of 2020 Sports Hall of Fame inductees includes former NFL defensive lineman Quinton Dial, current EMCC Dean of Students/Scooba Campus Tony Montgomery (baseball player and coach), Ike Clay (basketball), Ronnie Clay (baseball), and Greg Griffith (football). This year's Class of 2021 EMCC Sports Hall of Fame honorees consists of former women's basketball players Angelique Burtts, Martika [Hull] Leopold and Yvonne [Davis] Hairston along with former baseball players Alan Page and Brad Montgomery.
Ranked 11th nationally for the second straight week in the NJCAA Division I football poll, Coach Buddy Stephens' EMCC Lions are 3-0 overall after opening MACCC North Division play last week with a commanding 56-3 road win over Mississippi Delta. EMCC kicked off the current campaign with a 32-7 home win over East Central (Sept. 2) and a 49-7 road triumph over Southwest Mississippi the following week (Sept. 9).
Having outscored their opponents by a collective total of 137-17 on the year, the Lions enter the week ranked eighth among NJCAA Division I teams by averaging an MACCC-best 45.7 points per game for the season. Defensively, EMCC stands second nationally by limiting the opposition to an average of only 5.7 points per contest.
Individually for the Lions, sophomore quarterback Jamari Jones is tied for third nationally with an MACCC-most nine touchdown passes. The Northwest Rankin High School product has completed 52-of-81 (64%) passes for 621 yards this season.
On the year, 13 different EMCC players have caught at least one pass, with Joshua Aka (Starkville) and Jontarius Henderson (Laurel) leading the way with a dozen receptions apiece. Zach Patterson (Corinth) follows with nine grabs for 135 receiving yards and a team-high three touchdown catches.
The Lions' running game primarily consists of the 1-2 punch of sophomore Zias Perryman (Laurel) and Arkansas transfer Montae Spivey (Phenix City, AL). Perryman leads the team with 142 total rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns, while Spivey is averaging 5.8 yards per attempt and has 134 rushing yards on the season.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Lions have collectively registered 27 tackles for loss, including 11 quarterback sacks, through the first three games. EMCC defenders have also intercepted five passes, including two picks by freshman Jeremy Mack Jr. (Clinton). Transfers Lee Kpogba (Syracuse) and Trey Laing (South Florida) currently pace EMCC's talent-laden defensive unit with 22 and 19 tackles, respectively.
Guided by second-year head coach Raymond Gross, who previously served as Holmes' co-offensive coordinator and offensive assistant for six years, the Holmes Bulldogs are 0-3 on the year following setbacks to Mississippi Gulf Coast (56-14), Hinds (41-21) and Northwest Mississippi (51-20). The NJCAA's team rushing leader two of the last four seasons (2019 & 2017), Holmes currently ranks fourth nationally with an average of 241 rushing yards per game.
EMCC's Stephens owns an 11-1 career record versus Holmes since becoming the Lions' head football coach beginning with the 2008 season. His lone loss against the Bulldogs came during the most recent meeting two years ago (Oct. 10, 2019 in Goodman) when the two teams combined for 91 points, 1,000+ yards of total offense (429 rushing yards by Holmes) and 49 first downs between them during Holmes' 49-42 home win at Ras Branch Field. Stephens' Lions are unbeaten in six attempts against Holmes in games played in Scooba, including a 56-21 EMCC Homecoming victory during the 2018 season.
Thursday's EMCC-Holmes contest will be broadcast live by WFCA-FM (107.9), out of French Camp, with Jason Crowder and Glen Beard slated to provide the play-by-play and color commentary, respectively. The game's live-streamed audio will also be carried 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 live video-streamed home football broadcasts will be available in HD at EMCCAthletics.com/live. Alternate audio streams of the radio broadcasts are also available at wfca.fm.