East Mississippi sophomore quarterback Dontreal Pruitt repeats as MACJC Offensive Player of the Week

SCOOBA – For the second straight week, East Mississippi Community College sophomore quarterback Dontreal Pruitt has been accorded MACJC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the second-ranked Lions.

In just three quarters of action during EMCC's 79-7 road win over Northwest Mississippi Community College a week ago, Pruitt threw for seven touchdowns for the second time this season and eclipsed the 300-yard passing mark for the sixth straight contest.  The former Laurel High School standout accounted for 380 yards of total offense against the Rangers on 23-of-38 passing for 348 yards and the seven scores in addition to 32 rushing yards on seven carries.

For the season, Pruitt continues to rank among the NJCAA's top five statistical leaders in virtually every passing category.  Along with ranking second nationally with 33 touchdown passes on the year, Pruitt stands third in averaging 343.3 passing yards per game and fourth while completing 67.2 percent of his passes.  In addition to connecting on 176-of-262 pass attempts for 2,746 yards this season, the 5-foot-11, 175-pound signal caller has only been intercepted three times.       

Pruitt, who also earned the MACJC's offensive player honor a week ago following EMCC's 59-0 home victory over Northeast Mississippi, is joined by the Holmes Community College tandem of linebacker Quay Watt (defense) and safety Terrious Triplett (safety) as this week's MACJC honorees.  

Holding down the No. 2 spot behind top-ranked Georgia Military College in this week's NJCAA Top 20 national poll, head coach Buddy Stephens' 8-0 EMCC Lions close out the regular season by playing host to division rival Itawamba Community College Thursday evening on the Scooba campus.  With the winner securing the MACJC North Division championship and No. 1 seed during the upcoming MACJC State Playoffs, kickoff for Thursday's regular-season finale between the Lions and Indians is set for 7 p.m. at EMCC's Sullivan-Windham Field.

Along with EMCC and ICC having already nailed down the two playoff spots from the MACJC's North Division, so too have division champion Jones County and second-seeded Mississippi Gulf Coast from the MACJC's South Division punched their postseason tickets.  In first-round playoff action, fourth-ranked Jones County will host the No. 2 north seed, while the north champion will entertain fifth-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast on Saturday, Nov. 2.  The two semifinal-game winners will then compete for the 2013 MACJC State/NJCAA Region 23 Championship the following Saturday (Nov. 9) at a site to be determined.