PITTSBURG, Kansas — East Mississippi Community College sophomore defensive back JaQuez Akins had a word of warning for other football-playing junior colleges Thursday night.
“The boys here are coming for a three-peat,” Akins said. “They have all of the pieces on defense. They have linebackers back. They have linemen back. They have everything they need. Now that the program is playing back to its standard on defense, that changes everything. (EMCC) has never done the three in a row, but that’s coming next year.”
On Thursday, No. 1 EMCC beat No. 2 Garden City C.C. 10-9 at Carnie Smith Stadium to repeat as National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national champions.
The EMCC defense stifled Garden City C.C. en route to the victory. EMCC held its opponent below its nation-best 11.4 points per game allowed average in the regular season. Six of 12 opponents were held to nine points or less.
When hearing Akins’ claim, freshman Fred Hervey — the team’s leading tackler this season — was eager to agree.
“Since there never has been three in a row, we are going to take that challenge seriously,” Hervey said. “Every year, the goal is to win a national championship. We will certainly play with an edge, since it would be three in a row.”
EMCC trails only Butler C.C. (Kansas) and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M on the championship chart. Both of those schools have six national titles apiece.
Kansas experiment
For the first time, the NJCAA national championship game was held at neutral site.
In the first of a three-year arrangement, the game was played at 7,900-seat Carnie Smith Stadium on the campus of NCAA Division II member Pittsburg State.
It was the third time a national championship was decided in this stadium. The other two times the Kansas Jayhawk League champion served as the host in a bowl game at Pittsburg State.
EMCC left Scooba on Monday and stopped at the University of Arkansas for practice Tuesday. A dinner was held Wednesday.
“The entire event was spectacular,” EMCC coach Buddy Stephens said. “They went out of their way to make this a first-class experience for our players and our coaches. Junior college football has always been important in the state of Kansas. This is one of those places where it is done right. Hopefully, we can come back next year and watch it as it grows.”
EMCC has won three national titles in Mississippi and one in Yuma, Arizona.
This and that
EMCC improved to 7-0 in bowl games and 5-0 in national title games … The 10 points was EMCC’s lowest offensive total in Buddy Stephens’ 123 games as head coach … EMCC will enter next season on a 17-game winning steak (the school record is 25 from 2013-15) … EMCC has three undefeated seasons in program history (2013, 2014, and 2018) … This is the first time EMCC has been ranked No. 1 in the nation in every poll during the NJCAA season … Bowl official estimate 40 colleges were represented with coaches in attendance (Mississippi State and Ole Miss among that group) … The NJCAA national championship game was played for the first time on national television (CBS Sports Network).
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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