The past two football games between East Mississippi Community College and Hinds Community College couldn’t have been more different.
Yes, EMCC won both games by double digits, but at a program where dominance is the order of the day, there’s a lot more to it.
The Lions and the Eagles tangled in 2017 in Raymond on the last week of the regular season as both teams were preparing for the MACJC playoffs. EMCC held off a high-scoring Hinds team to win 51-41.
“It was two, at that time, really good football teams that played well,” EMCC coach Buddy Stephens said. “I thought offensively they played well, and defensively we were at that time not playing as well.”
Contrast that game with last year’s season opener. With an experienced team whose most recent game was a win in the 2017 national championship, the Lions handed Hinds a 50-0 EMCC romp in Scooba.
“I think we caught them on a down time. It was our night, and they’ve had their nights in the past,” Stephens said. “All the stars kind of aligned for us.”
Now, Hinds has experience where EMCC does not. There aren’t many players left from last year’s title-winning team.
So EMCC’s visit to Raymond to face Hinds at 6:30 p.m. Thursday to kick off the 2019 season might resemble the 2017 shootout rather than the 2018 blowout.
Stephens’ team won the championship both years, anyway. As long as the Lions win, he doesn’t much mind which version of history repeats itself.
“We’ll see how that goes,” Stephens said. “It’ll be fun to see our guys grow. It’ll give us a chance to see where we are.”
It’ll also give the Lions a chance to get many of their new players a taste of game action for the first time. For EMCC’s three Power Five transfers — quarterback Connor Neville from Washington State, defensive back Kevontae’ Ruggs from Ole Miss and defensive lineman Da’Vontae McCrae from North Carolina State — the transition to JUCO will be a new one.
But all Stephens wants out of Neville, at least, is a “mailman.”
“Run the offense, put the ball where it’s supposed to go and don’t try to take on too much on his own,” Stephens said. “Be a guy and don’t put a lot of added pressure on yourself.”
Neville’s offense will feature sophomore running back Keon Moore, who was injured in a car accident in early July that killed incoming freshman defensive back Zae Crain and badly injured fellow EMCC player Jeremiah Braziel.
“Keon’s a good football player,” Stephens said. “It’s just good to have Keon around, period.”
Sophomore wide receivers Jason Brownlee — one of 12 West Point graduates with the Lions — and Noxubee County grad Rashad Eades will provide Neville some strong targets on the outside.
The defense also boasts a few returning sophomores, but Stephens’ team, as always, relies on plenty of freshmen to contribute. The coach has instituted a standard of playing hard and with grit, and he expects everyone, no matter their experience, to meet it.
“Our guys, our young guys every year, all we do is we have the freshmen come in and try to fit in and try to play to the standard,” Stephens said. “If we can do that, then we’ll be fine.”
That standard — and the talent the Lions perennially attract — have them in an excellent position heading into the 2019 season.
They haven’t lost since Oct. 12, 2017 and they claim the past two national titles. So Stephens knows that Thursday’s season opener could be an early indicator of whether 2019 will bring a third. He wants to make sure his team isn’t worried about Hinds, no matter how well the Eagles play Thursday.
“I just want our guys worried about us and what we do and how we execute. It’s all about us. It isn’t about any other team,” Stephens said. “I want us to concentrate on executing and being as good a football team as we can be. If that happens, then we’ll be successful more times than we’re not.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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