There is no time for a letdown for the East Mississippi Community College football team.
After dropping the season opener, the Lions have faced an uphill battle to put themselves back in position to compete for a third National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national championship in four seasons.
With a sixth-straight Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) North Division championship in the bag, EMCC still has work to do in the national championship race. The next step will come at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, when No. 3 EMCC (6-1, 5-0 MACJC North Division) faces Coahoma C.C. (0-7, 0-4) in Clarksdale in the next-to-last game of the regular season.
“The season is a marathon, not a sprint,” EMCC quarterback De’Andre Johnson said. “The coaches talk to us all of the time about being 1-0. We concentrate every day in practice about doing what it takes to be 1-0 that week. We don’t worry about the polls and all of that. The coaches tell us if we keep going 1-0, all of the rest will take care of itself.”
EMCC took care of business with a 51-32 victory against then-No. 1 Northwest Mississippi C.C. before a large Homecoming crowd Saturday in Scooba. Johnson was chosen MACJC offensive player of the week for the third time this season after throwing for a career-best five touchdowns.
The victory enabled EMCC to take over sole possession of first place in the MACJC North Division. It was the environment in which EMCC has excelled under Buddy Stephens.
“The bigger the game, the better we play,” Stephens said. “Northwest has an excellent team, so we had to play our best. We knew what type of challenge we had. It’s really a validation of how hard this team has worked this season.”
After beating Northwest Mississippi for the eighth time in nine tries, a letdown would stand to reason. However, EMCC has won 21-straight games against Coahoma C.C. The Lions’ biggest fear could be a drop in the polls after the victory against Northwest Mississippi netted a one-spot gain.
But EMCC’s national ranking should take care of itself. It will play host to a first-round playoff game Nov. 2. This week, only four MACJC teams are ranked. However, East Central C.C. should re-enter the rankings if it wins the MACJC South Division.
EMCC needs two playoff games against two ranked opponents to help its chances of re-claiming the No. 1 ranking, which it held in the preseason.
“We knew this season was going to be a challenge,” EMCC sophomore running back Jacquez Horsley said. “The coaches always tell us a championship team finds a way to overcome adversity. We have become pretty good at doing that.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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