On Saturday afternoon, East Mississippi Community College football will make its long-awaited return to the national stage of junior college football, playing Hutchinson Community College in the national semifinals of the National Junior College Athletic Association playoffs.
It’s the first time since 2018 that the Lions will be playing in a NJCAA playoff/national championship game, but to reach the national championship this season, they’ll have to beat the No. 1 ranked juco team in the country on their turf.
This is the second-straight year that Hutchinson has made the NJCAA four-team playoff, losing in the semifinals to Iowa Western last season.
Coming into that game, the Blue Dragons were 11-0, a similar story to this season as Hutchinson enters Saturday’s game a perfect 10-0 this season.
The Blue Dragon defense has been one of the best in juco football, with the country’s best scoring and rushing defense and fourth-best total defense. Hutchinson’s 10.2 PPG and 53.5 rushing yards allowed this season were among the best marks in program history.
Offensively, Hutchinson doesn’t necessarily stand out amongst the rest, with its best offensive player being running back Tyrell Reed Jr., who ran for 709 yards and 12 touchdowns this season.
Defensively though, the names jump out left and right. Sophomore Daniel Brown led the country with 17.5 sacks, was second with 22.5 tackles for loss and had the third-most forced fumbles.
Freshman defensive back Ryan Nolan led the nation with seven interceptions and sophomore Walter Bob Jr. finished with 3.5 sacks, 15 tackles for loss, two fumble recoveries and two pass breakups.
EMCC has a tall task in front of it to advance to a national championship as Hutchinson’s average margin of victory this season is 28.9 points.
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