The East Mississippi Community College football team almost climbed back to the top of the junior college mountain this season.
Instead, the Lions finished second nationally in the final National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) rankings released Monday. It is EMCC’s first final ranking of No. 2.
Under Buddy Stephens, EMCC won the NJCAA national championship in 2011, 2013, and 2014. The Lions have finished in the top 10 in seven of Stephens’ nine seasons as coach at the school.
“The goal is to win a national championship,” Stephens said. “Once you do that one time, that becomes the new standard. That becomes the expectation. We fell short of that goal, so the season was not a complete success. However, you can’t take away from the accomplishment of this special group of players. At this time, we will take great pride at finishing second in the nation. That is quite an accomplishment.”
Then-No. 3 EMCC completed the season with a 27-17 victory against then-No. 13 Kilgore (Texas) College on Sunday in the Mississippi Bowl in Perkinston. The Lions broke away from a 14-14 tie behind the of play of Most Valuable Player De’Andre Johnson.
In his final game with EMCC, Johnson was 16 of 30 for 163 yards and a touchdown. He had 13 carries for 84 yards.
The Mississippi representative has won all nine Mississippi Bowls.
“I am really proud of what this team accomplished,” Johnson said. “Everyone considers this program the best one in the nation. That means you have to be ready every Thursday night. Even when you are the better team, you have to take advantage of opportunities and create your own breaks as well.”
EMCC is now 4-0 in the Mississippi Bowl and 5-0 in bowl games under Stephens. The Lions won their fifth Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) State championship this season, and finished with six wins against ranked opponents, including four against the top 10.
However, a season-ending 11-game winning streak wasn’t enough to get the Lions (11-1) over the top.
Garden City (Kansas) C.C. won its first national championship by beating then-No. 2 Arizona Western College 25-22 to win the El Toro Bowl in Yuma, Arizona. The victory snapped a streak of three-straight national championships by the MACJC. EMCC won the 2013 and 2014 titles. Northwest Mississippi C.C. won a season ago.
The NJCAA rankings are two-thirds computer and one-third human vote by regional directors.
In the final rankings, Garden City finished No. 1 followed by EMCC and Arizona Western.
“We had a chance,” Stephens said. “When you have an early loss, you have to fight your way back up through the rankings. Everything has to fall perfectly. We didn’t great the breaks we needed.”
The three national championship squads from EMCC each finished with 12-0 records. In 2015, EMCC lost early to Copiah-Lincoln C.C. but battled all the way back up to No. 3 before a benches-clearing brawl in the final regular-season game against Mississippi Delta C.C. led to a postseason ban.
EMCC then dressed out 32 players due to suspensions for its season opener — a 27-25 loss at Jones Junior College. Had the Lions won the opener, they would have almost been assured of playing for the national championship.
“This team really learned a lot about adversity,” EMCC sophomore running back Jacquez Horsley said. “The (2015) season didn’t end the way we wanted it, too. It made us hungrier as a team. Sometimes you take games for granted. This team didn’t do that this season.”
EMCC bounced back from its season-opening loss to win its final 11 games. There were several close calls, including a 44-42 victory against North Division rival Itawamba C.C. and two MACJC playoff wins by a combined 11 points.
In the end, the Lions overcame the close calls but couldn’t overcome its fall from preseason No. 1 after the loss to Jones.
“We will bring in another great group of athletes and make another run next season,” Stephens said. “For whatever reason, this team did not have swag this season. They didn’t have that spark. They didn’t play with that edge. We have to go back and find that. You can play with an edge without taking it too far. Perhaps, we had too much of an edge in the past.
“However, we got to go back and find that identity. We got to have that a little extra that has made us so successful in the past.”
The MACJC was well-represented in the final NJCAA rankings. Northwest Mississippi (No. 6), Holmes C.C. (No. 7), Northeast Mississippi C.C. (No. 10), and ICC (No. 19) also were ranked. Kilgore finished No. 11.
Holmes C.C. won its first bowl game with a 28-21 victory against Iowa Western College in the Graphic Edge Bowl in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Northwest Mississippi C.C. fell to No. 4 Trinity Valley College 34-24 in the Heart of Texas Bowl in Copperas Cove, Texas.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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