SCOOBA — For the first time, the National Junior College Athletic Association’s football national championship will be decided in the state of Mississippi.
“If somebody in our state goes undefeated, they have a chance to play for the national championship,” East Mississippi Community College coach Buddy Stephens said. “If you are undefeated from our state and No. 1 in the nation, then you have a chance to play for the national championship in your home state. That is really huge. There is a lot of pride in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. There is a lot of pride taken in the opportunity to win a national championship on Mississippi soil. It means a lot to our school (and) to the entire state.”
No. 2 EMCC (11-0) will face No. 1 Georgia Military College (11-0) at 2 p.m. Sunday in the sixth Mississippi Bowl at Indian Stadium on the campus of Biloxi High School.
By virtue of winning the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges state championship, EMCC earned an automatic invitation to the Mississippi Bowl. Since Georgia Military wasn’t assigned to a bowl game, EMCC earned the right to bring the national championship game to its home state.
“The committee is excited about bringing the national championship game to the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” Mississippi Bowl committee chairman Ladd Taylor said. “This is what we envisioned when we started the game six years ago. We have been building toward a point like this from the beginning. We have two tradition-rich programs and an excellent matchup. For our bowl game to continue to see growth, we were hoping for an opportunity such as this.”
There were two short-lived attempts to create a postseason bowl game in the state in the 1990s. With Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. serving as the host, the Mississippi Bowl was born in 2008. This season, the Mississippi Bowl is one of 10 postseason games sanctioned by the NJCAA.
EMCC won its first football state championship in 2009. It then defeated Arizona Western College 27-24 in the Mississippi Bowl and finished fourth in the nation. EMCC won its second state championship in 2011 when it was ranked second nationally and allowed to bypass the local bowl to play Arizona Western in the El Toro Bowl in Yuma, Ariz.
Georgia Military also has appeared in one Mississippi Bowl, losing to Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. 41-7 in the inaugural game in 2008.
“The Mississippi Bowl experience was very positive the first time. Hopefully this one will be even better,” GMC coach Bert Williams said. “When you are playing the Mississippi champions in a bowl game, you know you are playing one of the best teams in the nation.”
As the game has grown, the local community has embraced it.
“Mississippi junior college football is among the best in the nation,” Taylor said. “Mississippi is already known as a great state for hospitality, so we have taken our love for football with our passion for big-time sporting events and really created a winner. This season, we are fortunate in that we have a great matchup, and we also have two teams with short distances to travel for their fans.”
The teams will visit the Biloxi Boys and Girls Club and the Dream Program. A parade and pep rally will be held, as well as the bowl game’s team dinner, which is set for Friday night. Mississippi State football coach Dan Mullen will speak at that event for a second-straight season.
“It’s an honor for our state to be able to host a junior college bowl game,” Mullen said. “The junior college game is under-appreciated, so this is an excellent opportunity for these young men to gain some exposure. These teams work just as hard as anybody else.”
The game will feature GMC’s top-ranked rushing attack against EMCC’s top-ranked passing attack.
Both schools will vie for their second national championships. GMC won its title in 2001, while Stephens carried EMCC to the 2011 national championship.
“The bowl game brings a tremendous amount of exposure to our league and to the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” Stephens said. “Hopefully, one day this thing will be televised. But we are going to continue to work on those things. It is great because our fans are going to get to come see our guys play one more time. What this opportunity means to our school is not measurable. We feel very fortunate and blessed to be playing this close to home for a national championship.”
Follow Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
