For the East Mississippi Community College football team, the challenges will come early and often this season.
Ranked in the Top 5 of two different national publications, EMCC will open the 2016 campaign on Sept. 1 at Jones Junior College.
The Lions will play four home games on a nine-game schedule recently released by the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges.
Defending National Junior College Athletic Association national champion Northwest Mississippi Community College and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College are also ranked in the Top 10 in the preseason. EMCC will play at Gulf Coast in the second week of the season and will play host to Northwest for Homecoming in the seventh week.
The season opens with back-to-back South Division games against Jones and then Gulf Coast. The other South Division opponent is Hinds Community College, which comes to Scooba, in the regular-season finale on Oct. 27.
EMCC will look to continue its stranglehold on the North Division. The Lions have won 18 straight division games dating back to a loss at Itawamba Community College in the 2012 regular-season finale.
Overall, the MACJC will be looking to win an unprecedented fourth straight national championship and fifth in six seasons. EMCC won the 2011 title and followed that up with victories in 2013 and 2014. The Lions finished 12-0 in each of those campaigns. EMCC will be looking for its fifth state title under ninth-year coach Buddy Stephens.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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