The sixth-ranked East Mississippi Community College football team placed a conference-high 16 recipients on the 2021 All-MACCC Football Team, as announced Wednesday by the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference office.
Nine players are on the MACCC’s All-North Division First Team, and seven were named to the second team. The 16 all-conference selections for East Mississippi (9-1) topped Jones’ 15 honorees and MACCC Champion Northwest Mississippi’s 14 selections.
On offense, the Lions’ honorees included running back Zias Perryman (Laurel), wide receiver Jontarius Henderson (Laurel) and offensive lineman Jordan Boatman (Starkville).
Perryman gained 597 yards and scored six touchdowns on 130 rushes, while Henderson caught 33 passes for 325 yards and four touchdowns.
Defensively, EMCC had defensive linemen Devonyal Lofton (Forest) and Drew Tuazama (Raleigh, N.C.) linebacker Lee Kpogba (Winston-Salem, N.C.) and defensive back Jeremy Mack Jr. (Clinton). Tuazama and Kpogba each transferred from Syracuse University.
Lofton finished with 7 sacks for 43 yards in losses while forcing three fumbles and recovering one. He also made 15 tackles and assisted on 23 others. Tuazama
made 6 TFLs for 23 yards and made 11 tackles with 21 assists. Kpogba made 34 tackles and assisted on 50, registered 2 sacks for 17 yards, posted 5.5 TFLs for 26 yards, returned a fumble 16 yards and had an interception.
Mack made 4 interceptions and had 2 pass breakups while recording a sack, a fumble recovery, 2.5 TFLs and making 22 solo tackles and 18 assists.
Earning special teams honors for the Lions were Zach Patterson (Corinth) for his punt and kickoff return success and kicker/punter Peyton Rodgers (Starkville), who garnered first-team recognition as a punter and second-team honors as a kicker.
Patterson averaged 23.6 yards per kickoff return and 8.5 yards per punt return, including a long of 67 yards. Rodgers punted 27 times for a 37.4-yard average, placing six punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
East Mississippi’s seven all-conference second-team honorees included three players apiece on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball plus Rodgers. Offensively, the Lions placed quarterback Jamari Jones (Northwest Rankin), wide receiver Kevin Barnett (Oak Grove and offensive lineman Kylan Carter (Oak Grove) on the All-MACCC North Division Second Team. On defense, EMCC had lineman Trey Laing (Tallahassee, Fla.), linebacker Brandon Lairy (West Point) and defensive back Cam McCullum (Greenville).
EMCC is ranked fourth in NJCAA Division I scoring at an average of 40.8 points per game. Defensively, the Lions stand third nationally, allowing 12.8 points per contest.
Individually, Jones ranks third nationally with an MACCC-best 27 touchdown passes and is sixth in completion percentage (63.1 percent) on 176-of-279 passing for the year. The sophomore stands ninth with an average of 215.3 passing yards per game.
Defensively, EMCC is represented among the nation’s top 10 individual statistical leaders by Mack (T-9th with 4 INTs) and Lofton (T-10th with 7 sacks).
Rodgers is tied for sixth among NJCAA Division I kickers and tied for first in the MACCC with 74 points on 9 of 12 field goals and 47 of 50 PAT attempts.
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