SCOOBA — In a game that featured five ties, the Northeast Mississippi Community College football team defeated East Mississippi C.C. 49-42 on Thursday night in a MACJC North Division shootout at Sullivan-Windham Field.
After EMCC”s Trayshun King”s third touchdown of the game — a 24-yard run — helped knot the score at 35 early in the fourth quarter, Northeast Mississippi”s Jaquise Cook rushed for his third and fourth scores of the game (from 26 and 5 yards) to help put the contest away.
The sophomore from Ripley rushed for 255 yards on 34 carries and had four touchdowns.
Playing without starting quarterback Clint Wilson, NEMCC made up for its lack of a passing game by rushing 63 times for 330 yards and seven touchdowns.
EMCC”s only lead came on King”s 1-yard burst at the 13-minute, 39-second mark of the first quarter. The Lions capitalized on Perrance Ward”s fourth interception of the season – all in the last three games – that came on NEMCC”s first play.
After tying the contest at 7 on their next series, the Tigers took advantage of Rodney Davis” fumbled kickoff return with Cook”s first score to take a 14-7 lead.
From there, the teams traded scores for the next two quarters before NEMCC used back-to-back tallies in the final period to move to 4-2 and 3-1 in the North Division.
EMCC (2-4, 2-2) will play host to Pearl River at 2 p.m. Saturday as part of the school”s homecoming festivities on the Scooba campus.
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