SCOOBA
State championship day is Saturday in Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) football.
East Mississippi Community College football players and coaches won’t take the opportunity for granted when No. 3 EMCC (9-1) plays host to No. 4 Northwest Mississippi C.C. (9-1) at 2 p.m. Saturday at Sullivan-Windham Field in Scooba. EMCC beat Northwest Mississippi C.C. 51-32 on Oct. 15.
When Buddy Stephens was hired as EMCC football coach prior to the 2008 season, the school didn’t have a football trophy case. One would have been hard-pressed to find any football trophies.
Now, EMCC makes a habit of winning championships.
EMCC had made the MACJC playoffs in each of the first seven seasons under Stephens before being banned from the 2015 playoffs as punishment for a benches-clearing brawl in a regular-season win at Mississippi Delta C.C.
In the two-round format of the playoffs, Stephens has a 9-3 record. EMCC won the state championships in 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2014 (first four titles in program history). In 2008, 2010, and 2012, EMCC lost in the semifinals of the playoffs.
The only home loss in the new Sullivan-Windham Field, which is completing its sixth season Saturday, was a 47-46 loss to Copiah-Lincoln C.C. in the 2012 playoffs.
In other words, these playoffs have belonged to Stephens and the Lions.
Saturday brings another state championship opportunity. Northwest Mississippi C.C. was the MACJC’s bell cow in the early 2000s. However, EMCC has won eight of the last nine meetings.
During EMCC’s postseason ban a year ago, Northwest Mississippi C.C. assumed the top seed in the North Division, won the state championship, and the school’s first National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national championship since 1999.
The stakes could be equally high Saturday. In the latest rankings, the schools trailed only Garden City (Kansas) and Arizona Western. The rankings have a heavy computer-based component, so the winner could jump one or two spots before the season’s final ranking is released Monday.
EMCC has the state’s most prolific offense, while Northwest Mississippi C.C. has won with one of the nation’s best defenses. In the first meeting, EMCC built a 17-0 lead and overcame a few shaky spots in the second half.
It was a battle of wills. EMCC won by playing its style. Even though Northwest Mississippi C.C. scored 32 points, EMCC’s defense stood tall. A unit that was maligned through much of the season finally showed signs of growing up. After that victory, the EMCC defense posted shutouts against Coahoma C.C. and Hinds C.C.
In the opening round of the playoffs, EMCC’s defense had to make back-to-back stops in the fourth quarter to save a 27-24 victory against Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. Northwest Mississippi C.C. posted a second-half shutout to erase a 14-point deficit in a 21-14 victory against East Central C.C.
As expected, the 8-1 teams beat the 5-4 teams. The balance of the power this season was in the North Division. The playoff results back that.
Now, Northwest Mississippi C.C. and EMCC will play for the state championship.
The game will have lots of local flavor, with Aberdeen High’s Jerrick Orr as the second-leading receiver and Starkville High’s A.J. Smith being a premier defensive player for Northwest Mississippi C.C.
For EMCC, Starkville natives and sophomores Raphael Leonard at receiver and Jacquez Horsley at running back draw their final starts at Sullivan-Windham. Columbus native Alexander Lipscomb is a starter at defensive back, while Starkville’s Maleke Bell is a key freshman lineman.
It should be a great game that will feature teams with contrasting styles coming off dramatic, hard-fought wins. The winner will be a champion and position itself to play for a national championship.
As the championships have mounted, the trophy case keeps getting bigger and bigger at EMCC. Typically, a state championship is a nice footnote to a national championship campaign. EMCC won such titles in 2011, 2013, and 2014.
However, there will be a different feel Saturday.
EMCC’s sophomores have talked about winning a championship they felt was taken from them last season. The freshmen have talked about restoring the pride and getting the program back to its winning ways.
Regardless of the outcome, Saturday should be fun. When the horn sounds, no one will have taken the experience for granted.
Scott Walters is a sports writer for The Dispatch. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @dispatchscott.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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