No. 12 EMCC Lions head to Itawamba to continue MACCC North Division play

SCOOBA – Back in the national rankings for the first time since last season, the 12^th-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College are set to hit the road for MACCC North Division play by taking on the Indians of Itawamba Community College Thursday evening (Sept. 18) in Fulton. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. at Eaton Field on the ICC campus.

Having received votes in the NJCAA Division I football rankings during previous weeks to begin the season, the 2-1 EMCC Lions debuted at No. 12 nationally this week after outlasting then-No. 3 Northwest Mississippi, 34-28, a week ago in Scooba. After EMCC jumped out to a 24-0 first-half lead, the visiting Rangers battled back to cut the deficit to six points late in the fourth quarter before the Lions hung on for the upset victory that improved their composite record against opponents ranked in the top three nationally to 14-2 during the Buddy Stephens coaching era.

East Mississippi's key win over the reigning MACCC champions a week ago at Sullivan-Windham Field also marked Stephens' 150^th career collegiate victory with the Lions. EMCC's 18^th-year head coach maintains an impressive career winning percentage of .838 (150-29) to rank third on the NJCAA's all-time list for career winning percentage among football coaches with 100 or more career games coached.

The Lions' top offensive performers last week against Northwest were sophomore running back Gavin Griffin, Georgia State bounce-back quarterback Rodge Waldrop and Ole Miss bounce-back wide receiver Noreel White. Griffin was named NJCAA and MACCC Offensive Player of the Week after rushing for a career-high 189 yards and three touchdowns in 23 attempts against the Rangers to mark the most rushing yards by an EMCC player in a single game since Lakenderic Thomas totaled 248 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries during the Lions' 52-32 win over top-ranked Georgia Military in the 2013 Mississippi Bowl in Biloxi to claim the national championship.

For EMCC's passing game a week ago, Waldrop completed 31-of-46 passes for 305 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions for the Lions. His top target against Northwest was White, who caught eight passes for 86 yards. Freshman receiver Montrell Dortch followed with seven receptions for 67 yards and a touchdown.

Guided by third-year head football coach Travis Macon, Itawamba is 1-2 on the season after getting into the win column with last week's 23-14 victory at East Central. The Indians opened the current campaign by falling, 34-7, at home to Hinds and dropping a 48-42 decision at Pearl River. Former EMCC standouts Justin Lucas (defensive coordinator/linebackers coach) and Raphael Leonard (wide receivers coach) are current members of ICC's football coaching staff.

EMCC's Stephens owns a 14-2 career record (6-1 in Scooba, 7-1 in Fulton & 1-0 in West Point) versus Itawamba dating back to his first season (2008) at the Lions football helm. His pair of setbacks to ICC have come by a total of just three points, including last year's heartbreaking 36-34 home loss to the Indians that snapped Itawamba's 10-game series losing skid against EMCC. A year ago (Sept. 19, 2024) in Scooba during a tightly contested division battle that featured four fourth-quarter lead changes, the visiting Indians drove 60 yards on five plays with less than two minutes remaining in the seesaw affair to pull out the two-point road victory on Eli Burciaga's game-winning, 27-yard field goal with only 23 seconds left on the game clock. Two years ago (Oct. 26, 2023) in Fulton, the Lions claimed their 10^th consecutive series win over Itawamba with a 31-17 road triumph.

Thursday's EMCC-ICC contest will be broadcast live by WFCA-FM (107.9), out of French Camp, with Jason Crowder and Glen Beard slated to provide the play-by-play and color commentary, respectively. Jay Perry is also set to handle sideline reporting duties. The game's live-streamed audio will also be carried by EMCC's campus radio station, WGTC-FM (92.7), originating from the Golden Triangle campus in Mayhew. Along with EMCC's weekly live video-streamed football broadcasts being available in HD at emcclive.com, alternate audio streams of the Lions' radio broadcasts throughout the football season will also be accessible via wfca.fm.