The hard times continue for the East Mississippi Community College football team.
In the latest National Junior College Athletic Association national rankings, EMCC fell from third to 10th.
The freefall was quite alarming considering EMCC actually won last week.
EMCC extended its three-season Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges North Division win streak to 18 straight with a 48-0 win over Mississippi Delta Community College Thursday at Jim Randall Stadium in Moorhead.
The game was called with 59 seconds left in the first half because of a brawl. EMCC was awarded the victory.
On Friday, EMCC was banned from the MACJC playoffs because of the brawl. The MACJC office handed out suspensions for all players who left the bench area during the altercation, leaving EMCC unable to have enough players to play in the MACJC playoffs.
Sources confirmed to the Dispatch Tuesday that EMCC had appealed the sanctions. However, as of late Tuesday night, there was no official word from the MACJC that the appeal had been heard.
As it stands now, Northwest Mississippi Community College is the new top seed from the North Division and will play host to East Central Community College in one MACJC semifinal Saturday, while Itawamba Community College assumes the spot vacated by EMCC in the playoffs and will travel to South Division champion Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in the other semifinal.
The North Division champion (Northwest) has first hosting rights to the state championship game.
Without the brawl, EMCC could actually have moved up in the rankings since former No. 1 Butler Community College lost last week.
In the latest NJCAA rankings, Rochester College is now No. 1, while Northwest moved to No. 2.
EMCC beat Northwest 49-16 in Scooba on Oct. 22 to clinch the North Division championship.
Copiah-Lincoln Community College is No. 7 despite not making the MACJC playoffs. Gulf Coast is No. 8, while East Central is No. 17.
EMCC also fell behind two teams with two losses in the rankings.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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