EMCC Lions finish out another winning football season with impressive 51-15 road win at No. 8 Holmes

SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College's Lions closed out their 2024 football season in strong fashion with an emphatic 51-15 road win over eighth-ranked Holmes during Thursday afternoon's MACCC North Division contest played at rain-plagued Ras Branch Stadium.

The 36-point victory over the Bulldogs extended EMCC's current streak to 16 consecutive non-losing football seasons under the guidance of 17^th-year head coach Buddy Stephens, who was announced Friday as the Class of 2024 inductee into the NJCAA Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Finishing the current season with a 5-4 overall record and 4-2 division mark, the Lions have gone at least 4-2 within the division every season in which they've played since 2008, and only once during the Stephens era (5-5 in 2010) have they not had a winning overall record on the gridiron.

Thursday's contest began with Holmes jumping out to an early 9-0 lead with Dan Lindsay's 38-yard field goal three minutes into the game followed by John Ford's 35-yard touchdown pass to Cayden Burger at the 9:37 mark.

Following a slow start on Holmes' rainy homecoming, the Lions caught fire in all phases of the game by scoring 45 unanswered points. Their first two touchdowns came on Ty Keyes scoring passes of 23 yards to Michael Johnson Jr. at the 5:19 mark on a fourth-and-10 play and a 17-yard toss to O'Najae Marshall to give the visitors their initial lead at 14-9 late in the opening quarter.

The game's momentum dramatically swung EMCC's way moments later when Zavion Hardy's sack of Ford caused a fumble that was scooped up and scored by Rashod Bradley from 45 yards out to give the Lions a 21-9 advantage heading into the second quarter.

Following a timely three-and-out forced by the Lions, Keyes went back to work by throwing a 24-yard touchdown pass to Brendan Brown to extend EMCC's lead to 28-9 at the 12:53 mark.

Two minutes later as heavy rain began to fall in Goodman, the Lions' defense once again put the offense in prime scoring position near midfield. Three plays into EMCC's next offensive possession, running back Gavin Griffin broke loose around the right end on his first carry of the night for a 33-yard touchdown run. Hayden Houpt's successful PAT attempt made it a 35-9 contest with 10:57 minutes remaining before an atypical midgame break.

With 5:16 left on the game clock, a 38-minute weather delay enabled game officials to use the break as the game's intermission instead of a regular halftime session. Following a scoreless final five-plus minutes of the second quarter, the third quarter began with a minimal break in game action.

The Lions took the opening kickoff of the adjusted second half 71 yards on 13 plays, including 30 costly penalty yards called against Holmes, and increased their sizable lead to 38-9 with Houpt's 31-yard field goal at the 8:16 mark.

The third quarter came to a close with the two teams trading touchdowns over the final couple of minutes. After EMCC lengthened its lead to 45-9 on Griffin's 49-yard touchdown burst at the 2:31 mark, Holmes managed to snap the Lions' streak of 45 unanswered points in the game with Jeremy Atkins' 40-yard fumble recovery to make it a 45-15 contest with less than a minute left in the quarter.

As the visitors made an effort to keep the game clock running by staying with the run, EMCC sophomore running back Jaylen Jennings finished off his career-high, 121-yard rushing effort with a 7-yard scoring run with 6:28 remaining in the contest. The Lions were not able to convert the PAT try, and the final score resulted in a convincing 51-15 road victory for the reigning two-time MACCC football champions.

Statistically, the Lions compiled 450 yards of total offense with 285 yards coming on the ground and 165 through the air. Individually, Keyes, the reigning NJCAA Division I Offensive Player of the Year, completed 10-of-20 passes for 165 yards and three touchdowns.

Griffin, last year's MHSAA Class 1A Mr. Football as a senior at Velma Jackson High School, was the primary offensive standout in EMCC's season finale, rushing for a career-high 136 yards, including scoring runs of 49 and 33 yards, to top the century mark for the third time on the year.