No. 8 EMCC and No. 4 Northwest set for top-10 conference clash in Scooba

SCOOBA – At the midway mark of the MACCC regular season, the eighth-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College return home to play host to the fourth-ranked Northwest Mississippi Rangers in a Thursday night gridiron battle of top-10 division foes on the Scooba campus. With possible postseason implications on the line, Thursday's kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at EMCC's Sullivan-Windham Field.     

Playing at home for the first time since their season-opening 38-0 shutout win over Copiah-Lincoln to begin the month (Sept. 1), the EMCC Lions are 3-1 overall and 1-0 in MACCC North Division play following last week's thrilling 48-45 come-from-behind road win over Mississippi Gulf Coast. EMCC's previous three weeks away from home also included in a 45-9 division win over Holmes at Ridgeland High School (Sept. 15) and a 42-28 setback at Jones College (Sept. 8).

Offensively as a team on the season, East Mississippi currently tops the NJCAA Division I ranks averaging 314.8 passing yards per game along with ranking third nationally in total offense (435.8 yds/gm) and sixth in scoring offense (39.8 ppg).

Individually, the Lions are paced by two-time reigning NJCAA and MACCC Offensive Player of the Week Eli Anderson. The freshman quarterback out of Neshoba Central High School has posted two-game composite totals of 67-of-90 (74%) passing for 793 yards and eight touchdowns. A week ago at Gulf Coast, Anderson completed 34-of-48 (71%) passes for 493 yards and four touchdowns. By throwing for 357 of those yards and the four scores on 20-of-28 (71%) accuracy following halftime, he engineered the Lions' improbable second-half comeback that saw them overcome a 31-7 deficit midway through the third quarter against the Bulldogs. Anderson entered this week's action leading all NJCAA Division I quarterbacks in pass completion percentage (72.4%) in addition to ranking fifth nationally in passing yards per game (243.8 yds/gm) as well as passing efficiency (155.5).

EMCC's deep receiving corps features 11 different players who have caught five passes or more on the season and eight players with at least one touchdown grab. Sophomores Duke Miller and Carl Robinson currently lead the way with 22 and 19 receptions, respectively, for the Lions.

Guided by seventh-year head coach Benjy Parker, who is in his 17^th season overall as a junior college football coach, the fourth-ranked and two-time reigning MACCC champion Northwest Mississippi Rangers are 4-0 on the season. After sweeping MACCC South Division opponents Gulf Coast (28-24), Hinds (31-28) and Pearl River (21-14) by a composite total of 14 points to open the season, Northwest began division play last week with a decisive 49-10 home triumph over Itawamba.

Thursday's EMCC-NWCC gridiron matchup will mark the 12^th meeting in the past 15 seasons that both teams have been nationally ranked when going head-to-head, including the 10^th time both teams have owned top-10 rankings. The Lions own a 7-2 record against the Rangers in those previous top-10 matchups. EMCC head football coach Buddy Stephens owns a 12-3 career record versus Northwest, including back-to-back conference championship wins (2016 & 2017) over the Rangers when both teams were ranked top five nationally.

Dating back to the 2008 football season, EMCC and Northwest have combined to claim each of the previous 14 MACCC North Division regular-season championships. The Lions have won 10 of those division titles, while the Rangers have earned the other four MACCC North crowns. Aided by the Lions' seven conference championships since 2009 and five national titles during an eight-year span (2011-18), East Mississippi and Northwest Mississippi have also combined to account for 10 MACCC football championships in the last 13 years along with six NJCAA titles over the last 11 seasons.   

Thursday's EMCC-Northwest 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. Chris Coleman is set to do the sideline reporting. 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 weekly live video streamed football broadcasts will be available in HD at emcclive.com. Alternate audio streams of the radio broadcasts are also available at wfca.fm.