SCOOBA — Records keep falling at a fast pace.
The top-ranked East Mississippi Community College football team moved into a new stadium four years ago. The Lions have quickly been adding a lot of hardwood to display around the new home.
EMCC (11-0) will play No. 2 Iowa Western College (11-0) Sunday in the seventh Mississippi Bowl. The winner will be National Junior College Athletic Association champions for the 2014 season.
Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. at Biloxi High School’s Indian Stadium.
“Winning never gets old,” said EMCC sophomore quarterback/running back Todd Mays of Olive Branch. “When you are in the middle of the season, you really don’t think about all of the wins. At the end of the year, you look back and you realize how great it all looks. Players come here to win championships. That is the expectation.”
The contest matches two of the nation’s best programs. EMCC has won 23 straight games and 43 of its last 45 games. Iowa Western has won 34 of its last 35 games. The Lions won the 2011 and 2013 NJCAA championships, while the Reivers won the 2012 title. However, this will be the first series meeting.
“You have two programs with very similar resumes,” EMCC seventh-year head coach Buddy Stephens said. “They do a lot of things the way we do them. Our mind-set is the same for this game as any other. We are totally consumed with ourselves. Every day, we try to get better as a team but we worry about ourselves. We know if we play to our potential, we can win any game played.”
EMCC will be looking for more history Sunday. With a win, the Lions could become the first Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges institution with three national championships. Northwest Mississippi Community College and Gulf Coast Community College each join EMCC with two titles. EMCC would also become the first in-state school to win national championships in back-to-back years.
EMCC can also become the first NJCAA team ever to win three national championships in a four-year stretch. A victory would also extend EMCC’s two-season win streak to 24 games, which would be a new MACJC record, bettering the previous mark of 23 straight wins set by Pearl River Community College from 2003 to 2005.
If one is looking for a common theme in the two win streaks, Stephens was an assistant coach at Pearl River during that run of success.
“We want to make history,” said EMCC sophomore linebacker Justin Lucas of Aberdeen. “When the coaches told us that no school in the state had ever gone back-to-back, we knew then we had a goal. Each week, our team talks about being 1-0. Whatever it takes to be 1-0 that is always the main goal. However, we have always had in the back of our minds, the national championship. We won it last year and we know how special that was. So we want to go out and do it again.”
Both teams are expected to arrive in Biloxi today. A dinner, parade, pep rally and community service visits are on the agenda between now and Sunday.
When it comes to championship play, Stephens’ squads are usually at their best.
Under his watch, EMCC is 4-0 in state championship games and 3-0 in bowl games, including victories in this bowl game in both 2009 and 2011.
When the stakes are high, a performance is usually there to match.
“We take pride in being the best team in the nation,” said EMCC sophomore running back Preston Baker of Starkville. “For the sophomores, this game will be emotional, because it is our last time playing together. We will just have to settle down and keep the emotions in check. We have been waiting all season for this one game. So we will be ready to be at our best.”
Follow Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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