No. 1 EMCC Lions claim school-record 21st straight win with 65-0 blanking of Mississippi Delta to cap perfect regular season

SCOOBA – In closing out their second straight undefeated regular season and third in four years, the top-ranked and reigning NJCAA national champion Lions of East Mississippi Community College claimed their school-record 21^st consecutive victory with a 65-0 shutout win over Mississippi Delta Community College Thursday night at EMCC's Sullivan-Windham Field.

Improving to 9-0 overall and 6-0 as MACJC North Division regular-season champions for the fourth straight season and sixth time in seven years, the top-seeded Lions will play host to seventh-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast next Saturday (Nov. 1) in the MACJC state semifinals.  Kickoff time for the EMCC-MGCCC match-up is set for 2 p.m. on the Scooba campus.  Next Saturday's other semifinal-round contest will pit MACJC South Division champion and 12^th-ranked Copiah-Lincoln playing host to MACJC North Division runner-up Northwest Mississippi in Wesson.  The MACJC state championship game will take place the following Saturday (Nov. 8) at a site to be determined.

En route to recording their fifth consecutive shutout on the year and 10^th over the last two seasons during their current win string, the home-standing Lions powered their way through a 29-point opening quarter by dominating Delta on both sides of the football.  A game-opening drive of 72 yards in six plays was capped by Chad Kelly's 31-yard touchdown pass to Camion Patrick.  Following an MDCC penalty on the ensuing kickoff, the score quickly became 8-0 two minutes into the contest on a safety when Delta starting quarterback Devin Adams was whistled for an illegal forward pass as he was being sacked in the end zone by Marco Montgomery.    

EMCC's efficient offense went right back to work moving the ball 60 yards on 10 plays to make the score 15-0 when Kelly found Isaac Johnson wide open over the middle for a 12-yard scoring strike at the 10:13 mark.  Another 60-yard scoring drive followed for the Lions on their next possession with Kelly again finding Johnson from 9 yards out in the back left corner of the end zone with 4:57 remaining in the first quarter.

The margin quickly increased to 29-0 just 14 seconds later when Lorenzo Phillips picked up a mishandled ball exchange in the Delta backfield and rumbled 10 yards for the Lions' ninth score of the year coming via their defensive unit and special teams play.  For the year, EMCC now has two fumble recoveries for touchdowns to go along with six pick-six pass interceptions for scores and a blocked punt recovered in the end zone for another tally.

With the Lions scoring three more times in the second quarter, Drew White kicked things off with a 37-yard made field goal just nine seconds into the period.  Kelly continued his stellar first half of play by tossing two more touchdowns in the second quarter to match his season high.  After hitting DJ Law out of the backfield for a 6-yard touchdown toss at the 8:32 mark, Kelly connected with Johnson from 7 yards out for a third scoring strike on the night to increase EMCC's lead to 46-0 heading into the intermission.

In the opening half alone, Kelly was 24-of-36 through the air for his sixth 300-yard passing game (309) of the year while matching his season high with five touchdowns thrown.  The sophomore transfer from Clemson by way of Buffalo, N.Y., also had 38 rushing yards on four attempts against the Trojans.

While utilizing a running game clock during the second half for the eighth time this season due to the MACJC's 38-point mercy rule, the Lions were still able to manage three more touchdowns following halftime on a trio of rushing scores by sophomore running back Preston Baker.  The Starkville product punched it in from 5 yards out in the third quarter and followed with two more short-yardage scoring bursts during the closing period to account for the final margin.  Baker finished with a career-high 86 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries.     

Matching Baker's three scores on the evening, Johnson, a sophomore from Meridian, paced EMCC's receivers with eight catches for 94 yards.  Patrick, from Knoxville, Tenn., had six grabs for 90 yards and a score, while Law, a native Floridian, was credited with 83 receiving yards on seven catches along with 85 rushing yards on nine attempts.

In addition to limiting Delta to around 50 yards of total offense on the night, East Mississippi shut out the Trojans for the fourth consecutive year dating back to the school's 2011 national championship season.  The Lions extended their current defensive streak to 22 consecutive scoreless quarters while also completing the regular season without having surrendered a rushing touchdown all season.

Having outscored the opposition 269-0 during its current five-game shutout streak and 515-38 collectively on the year, EMCC scored in all but one of the team's 36 quarters played during the regular season while blanking the opposition in 30 of those 36 quarters.

In preparation for their seventh consecutive state playoff appearance under head coach Buddy Stephens, the EMCC Lions enter postseason play having prevailed in 41 of their last 43 outings spanning back to the start of the 2011 campaign, including separate winning streaks of 21 and 20 consecutive games during that stretch.