East Mississippi Community College’s season of redemption likely won’t end with a national championship.
The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) announced the pairings for eight bowl games Tuesday. No. 3 EMCC (10-1) will face No. 13 Kilgore College (Texas) (6-4) at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, in the Mississippi Bowl.
Due to renovations at Biloxi High School’s football stadium, the game will be played at May Stadium on the campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast College in Perkinston.
EMCC finished third in the final NJCAA rankings released Monday. No. 1 Garden City (Kansas) (10-0) will face No. 2 Arizona Western (11-0) in the El Toro Bowl in Yuma, Arizona. There are four unbeatens in the rankings.
When the season began, we called this the most important season in the history of EMCC football. It also was a season with no margin of error.
In last season’s final game, EMCC and Mississippi Delta C.C. were involved in a brawl in which more than half of each team left the bench area. The game was called in the final minute of the first half with EMCC leading 48-0.
EMCC was then banned from the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior College (MACJC) playoffs. The Lions had won state championships in 2013 and 2014.
Not only did the fight tarnish the program, it also put the program in a negative light when Netflix unveiled its six-part series “Last Chance U” in July. The documentary was a no-holds barred look at the program on and off the field.
In August, ninth-year coach Buddy Stephens promised changes. He said he had made a public profession of faith to God. He vowed he still would coach with passion but that he would have a new attitude.
With Netflix cameras rolling again this season and any good graces earned gone, the margin for error was non-existent. In the season opener, EMCC played with 32 of its 55-player roster. The other players were suspended for their role in the brawl. EMCC battled to the final play but lost to Jones County Junior College 27-25. A game-tying two-point conversion attempt was batted away in the final minute. The Lions also had a chance to surge ahead the possession before but fumbled inside the Bobcats’ 5-yard line.
To have any chance at a third national title in four seasons, the Lions had to be perfect the rest of the way and get some help. The Lions were perfect, but they didn’t get any help.
EMCC won its final 10 games. The Lions did it with class and professionalism. Gone were the days of long-range pass attempts with 50-plus point leads. Gone were the timeouts called in the final minute of a half to get one more possession despite a 40-point lead.
The Lions were still brash. They were still in your face. They were still the best team in the state. There was no denying they were the kings of the MACJC. However, games were compelling.
EMCC needed a last-second escape in a 44-42 victory against Itawamba C.C. EMCC had to hang on for a 63-49 victory against Holmes C.C. In its biggest regular-season test, EMCC defeated reigning national champion Northwest Mississippi Community College 51-32 in Scooba.
The path to a fifth state championship also featured two exciting playoff games — a 27-24 victory against Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. and a 38-30 victory against Northwest Mississippi C.C.
Despite three national titles and now five state titles, it is debatable whether this is Stephens’ best team. Offensively, it very well could be. However, the Lions play a different style than the days of the 90-7 and 79-7 games of the past.
The MACJC’s decision to institute a running clock when one team builds a 38-point lead also has kept the points and yardage totals down in recent years.
There is little doubt Florida State transfer quarterback De’Andre Johnson is the best player to play at EMCC. He will be a millionaire very soon.
On defense, a team that looked like a train wreck six weeks ago has played brilliantly down the stretch. First-year defensive coordinator Ed Holly deserves a lot of credit for righting the ship. Seven Division I transfers have started on defense. Many of those will also have nice-sized bank accounts in the near future.
However, what they won’t have is a junior college national championship ring.
Many fans took to Twitter on Tuesday decrying the bowl selections. In 2014, EMCC had a miraculous jump from second to first in the final poll despite former No. 1 Iowa Western finishing undefeated. That meant EMCC played Iowa Western in Biloxi and not Iowa for the national championship.
With the rankings being part human and part computer, EMCC held out hope for a similar jump this year but it didn’t happen. EMCC managed one of nine first-place votes but was six-and-a-half points behind Arizona Western for the No. 2 spot.
Thus, the MACJC streak of three-straight national championships likely will end.
EMCC will have the consolation prize of trying to become 4-0 in the Mississippi Bowl and 5-0 in bowl games under Stephens.
You can debate the NJCAA’s treatment of EMCC. Garden City and Arizona Western won all of their games. EMCC didn’t.
What isn’t debatable is one ugly 10-minute stretch in Moorhead most likely cost EMCC the 2015 national championship. It looks like it could cost the Lions the 2016 national championships, too. At the time of the fight, EMCC was third but one team above it eventually lost.
It would have been an unprecedented run of four-straight titles.
Instead, EMCC will now beat Kilgore into submission, but they will do it in a classy, professional manner. Netflix will again score big when the second installment of “Last Chance U” goes online this summer. Stories of redemption always sell. Garden City or Arizona Western likely will add a national championship trophy to their case.
Watch out, though, because EMCC’s path of destruction most likely will be wide in 2017.
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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