By Scott Walters
If national publications are correct, it will be business as usual for the East Mississippi Community College football team this season.
EMCC begins the season ranked No. 4 nationally by Sporting News magazine and No. 1 nationally in the JCGridiron.com Dirty 30. The official National Junior College Athletic Association national rankings will be released the week of Aug. 8.
“Personally, I think EMCC bounces back with a very big year,” said Fred Francis, a national junior college writer, who contributes to multiple web sites. “They were in line to win another championship last year. However, that not working out will make the team’s resolve even greater this year. The talent level is there and they will be determined to make it back.”
EMCC won the NJCAA national championship in 2013 and 2014. After an early-season loss to Copiah-Lincoln Community College last year, EMCC had moved back up the NJCAA rankings and were in line for a national championship game berth before a season-ending brawl against Mississippi Delta Community College barred the team from the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges playoffs.
EMCC was credited with a victory over Delta despite the contest being called before halftime. With an 8-1 overall record from last season, EMCC enters this season having won 32 of its last 33 games.
With EMCC disqualified, Northwest Mississippi Community College captured the state championship and won the school’s first national championship since 1999.
With EMCC also winning the 2011 title, the MACJC has won four of the last five national championships.
JCGridiron.com editor Brad Hoiseth said the EMCC’s preseason ranking was based on a slew of talented wide receivers for quarterback DeAndre Johnson, while calling Isaiah Patrick and Jacquez Horsley the best 1-2 combination at running back in the nation.
In its 12th season, the JCGridiron.com poll is unique in that it considers all 138 football-playing junior colleges nationwide. The NJCAA has 68 football participants, while the California Community College Athletic Association has 70. The season-ending poll by the web site also includes all schools, with EMCC becoming the first program to be recognized three times as national champions by the publication.
Elsewhere in the JCGirdiron.com poll, Northwest was ranked fifth, while Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College was ranked eighth.
EMCC will open its ninth season under Buddy Stephens Sept. 1 at Jones Junior College. The Lions remain on the road for Gulf Coast on Sept. 8 and will play host to Northwest for Homecoming on Oct. 15 in Scooba.
ICC lands quarterback: In other junior college football news, Itawamba Community College third-year coach Sean Cannon announced Wednesday that Washington State University transfer Peyton Bender was joining the ICC program.
The redshirt freshman completed 53 of 91 passes for 498 yards, with three touchdowns and four interceptions in five games for the Cougars last season.
A prep standout at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Bender was chosen all-state honorable mention after throwing for 2,184 yards and 28 touchdown in his senior season. That year was cut short by collar bone injury in the 10th game of the season.
Bender will take part in fall drills when the Indians report the first week of August.
The ICC season opener is Sept. 1 against Gulf Coast Community College in Fulton.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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