Five home contests highlight East Mississippi’s 2025 football schedule

SCOOBA – Featuring five home contests on the Scooba campus, East Mississippi Community College's 2025 football schedule was announced this week.

EMCC's nine-game, regular-season football schedule kicks off Thursday, Aug. 28, on the road against reigning MACCC playoff semifinalist Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Set for the same ordering of opponents as their 2024 football schedule but with switched game sites from a year ago, the Lions' month of September this season opens with back-to-back home games against MACCC South Division foe Hinds and defending MACCC champion Northwest Mississippi on Sept. 4 and 11, respectively. Following a Sept. 18 road MACCC North Division matchup against Itawamba, EMCC will close out the month and stay within division play by traveling to Clarksdale for Coahoma's 2025 Homecoming contest on Saturday, Sept. 27.   

Following a conference-wide bye week to precede the MACCC's October game slate, head coach Buddy Stephens' 2025 EMCC Lions will play three of their last four regular-season games at the friendly confines of Sullivan-Windham Field. Homecoming festivities will kick off the month of gridiron action on Saturday, Oct. 11, when the Tigers of Northeast Mississippi visit Scooba for a 2 p.m. kickoff. Home matchups versus MACCC South Division member Pearl River (Oct. 16) and reigning MACCC playoff semifinalist Holmes (Oct. 30) will bookend the Lions' Oct. 23 road outing against Mississippi Delta in Moorhead. 

Featuring the top two teams from each division based on regular-season division play, the 2025 MACCC football playoffs will begin the first week of November with semifinal-round action. The MACCC championship game will be played the following week.

With a 17-year head coaching record of 148-28 (.841) with the Lions, EMCC's Stephens will enter the upcoming 2025 football season ranked third on the NJCAA's all-time list for career winning percentage among coaches with 100 or more career games coached. Along with also ranking third among the NJCAA's winningest active head football coaches with 148 career wins, the 2024 inductee into the NJCAA Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame is currently ranked 21^st on the NJCAA's all-time wins list and is fifth in Mississippi junior college football history. Along with having captured five national championships (2011, '13-14 & '17-18) and a national runner-up finish in 2023, Stephens' EMCC football teams have also claimed nine conference titles (2009, '11, '13-14, '16-18 & '22-23) and 11 division crowns (2008-09, '11-16, '18, '21 & '23) dating back to the 2008 season.

Having finished the 2024 football season with a 5-4 overall record and 4-2 division mark, East Mississippi extended the program's current streak to 16 consecutive non-losing football seasons under Stephens' guidance. In addition to having gone 4-2 or better within the division every season in which they've played since 2008, the Lions have only had one season (5-5 in 2010) without a winning overall record on the gridiron during that span. On the heels of that .500 campaign 15 years ago, EMCC rebounded to win national championships during three of the next four football seasons.

2025 EMCC FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Thurs., Aug. 28 – at Mississippi Gulf Coast – 7:00 p.m.

Thurs., Sept. 4 – HINDS – SCOOBA – 7:00 p.m.

Thurs., Sept. 11 – NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI* – SCOOBA – 7:00 p.m.

Thurs., Sept. 18 – at Itawamba* – Fulton – 7:00 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 27 – at Coahoma* – Clarksdale – 2:00 p.m.

Week of Sept. 29-Oct. 5 – MACCC BYE WEEK

Sat., Oct. 11 – NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI* (EMCC HOMECOMING) – SCOOBA – 2:00 p.m.

Thurs., Oct. 16 – PEARL RIVER – SCOOBA – 7:00 p.m.

Thurs., Oct. 23 – at Mississippi Delta* – Moorhead – 7:00 p.m.

Thurs., Oct. 30 – HOLMES* – SCOOBA – 7:00 p.m.

*-MACCC North Division game