DECATUR — Dontreal Pruitt opened some eyes when he carried Laurel High School to the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A state championship game last season.
Pruitt was on center stage Thursday at Memorial Stadium, making plays with his feet and his throwing arm. That versatility makes him a perfect fit for the East Mississippi Community College football program.
For the first time this season, Pruitt saw playing time and quarterbacked the final four possessions of No. 1 EMCC’s 51-7 win against East Central C.C.
“I was really grateful to the coaches for giving me a chance,” said the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Pruitt, who was an All-State selection in high school. “I knew when we opened a lead it might happen. I kept telling myself I need to execute. I made one mistake, but I did my best to put that behind me as quickly as I could.”
Pruitt was 7 of 13 with one interception for 77 yards. The Lions scored on three of the four possessions, including Pruitt’s first collegiate passing touchdown — a 23-yard strike to former Columbus High standout Deontae Jones in the corner of the end zone.
“Dontreal made some plays out there,” EMCC coach Buddy Stephens said. “He has worked so hard in practice. That is why we wanted him to get some reps. He is still learning our offense and learning the way we do things. The interception was a really bad read. You can’t make those kinds of mistakes in a tight game. However, I thought he learned from that and did a great job of bouncing back.”
Defensive back Deane Lawrence returned the interception 65 yards to set the Warriors up for a 7-yard scoring drive to break up the shutout. Not deterred, Pruitt then completed five passes on a 79-yard, 10-play scoring drive. The touchdown to Jones capped that march.
With only a handful of fans left in the stands, the Lions went back to the hurry-up offense in the final minutes. This time, Pruitt led the team on a 78-yard, eight-play march. Former West Point High School standout Xavier Hogan scored on a 5-yard touchdown run with 34 seconds left in regulation.
The Pruitt-led scoring drives lasted 16 seconds, 2 minutes, 48 seconds, and 2:25.
“The goal every time we touch the ball is two minutes,” Pruitt said. “That is how quickly we want to score.”
Starting quarterback Quez Johnson threw for 249 yards and two touchdowns.
In the preseason, Stephens indicated both quarterbacks would see lots of playing time and might be on the field at the same time.
“Dontreal is so fast and he is a quick learner,” Stephens said. “I think he could be in the backfield or at a slot position. There are so many things we can do with him, but he is a freshman, so you don’t want to overwhelm from the beginning.”
Birthday boy
Stephens celebrated his 47th birthday Thursday. The longtime junior college coach appreciated a point total similar to his age.
“I had a lot of family here tonight, so this was fun,” Stephens said. “My football team is always my extended family, so it was great to share this special day with them. To win makes it that much better.”
Long run over
East Central saw its six-game win streak in the series end. EMCC hadn’t beaten ECCC since a 12-7 win in 1998 in Decatur. It was the longest active win streak by any school in the league against EMCC. Nine of the state’s 13 other schools lost to EMCC last season.
Stephens is in his fifth season as head coach at EMCC. However, this was his first head-to-head matchup against ECCC. The only other first-time opponent for Stephens is next week’s foe, Southwest Mississippi C.C.
In addition to defeating nine schools last season, EMCC last beat Jones Junior College in 2009, Copiah-Lincoln C.C. in 2009 and Southwest in 2007.
State action
All four of the state’s ranked teams won Thursday night.
In addition to EMCC, No. 4 Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. won 46-12 at Holmes C.C., No. 5 Hinds C.C. defeated Coahoma C.C. 41-13 at home, and No. 11 Northwest Mississippi C.C. won 42-21 at Copiah-Lincoln C.C.
Also Thursday night, Pearl River C.C. erased a one-point halftime deficit to win 44-29 at Mississippi Delta C.C.
The South Division has won seven of the first 12 meetings against the North Division this season. EMCC will play its final non-division game next Thursday at Southwest.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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