SCOOBA – The sixth-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College aim to successfully close out their current three-game football home stand by playing host to the fourth-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast Bulldogs during Thursday’s key inter-divisional MACCC contest to be played on the Scooba campus. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at EMCC’s Sullivan-Windham Field.
The reigning MACCC champion EMCC Lions enter this week’s contest against unbeaten Gulf Coast with a 2-1 overall record and 1-0 division mark after bouncing back from their season-opening 23-20 road setback at Copiah-Lincoln with consecutive home victories over then-No. 4 Jones College (47-23) and Holmes (65-17). Last week’s 48-point win over Holmes marked EMCC’s highest single-game point total since the Lions’ 2017 national championship season. The contest was also highlighted by six touchdown passes thrown by repeat MACCC Offensive Player of the Week Ty Keyes as well as pick-sixes by defensive backs Shannon Blair and Bakari McCall.
Keyes, a transfer quarterback from Southern Miss, followed up his previous week’s NJCAA and MACCC Offensive Player of the Week performance by throwing for 472 yards and six scores on 27-of-35 (77%) passing a week ago against Holmes. Keyes connected on scoring tosses of 75, 49, 40, 24, 20, and 16 yards. He also picked up 24 rushing yards on two attempts to give him 496 yards of total offense last week versus the Bulldogs.
Through the season’s first three games, Keyes is averaging an NJCAA-leading 355.3 passing yards per game on 75-of-114 (65.8%) accuracy that ranks third nationally. The former two-time Mississippi Gatorade Football Player of the Year at Taylorsville High School is also currently tied for second among NJCAA Division I quarterbacks with a dozen touchdown passes on the year.
Keyes’ top receiving target thus far has been University of Memphis transfer Cam Wright, who ranks seventh nationally with an average of 5.7 catches per game and tied for eighth with 82.3 receiving yards an outing. During last week’s win over Holmes, the South Panola High School product posted season highs with eight grabs for 133 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Guided by sixth-year head coach Jack Wright, the No. 4 MGCCC Bulldogs are 3-0 on the year following home triumphs over Northwest Mississippi (49-14) and Itawamba (50-0) prior to last week’s 55-33 come-from-behind road win at Southwest Mississippi.
Heading into Thursday’s meeting, Mississippi Gulf Coast is averaging an NJCAA-best 51.3 points per game, while East Mississippi is fourth nationally at 44.0 points per contest. In total offense yards, MGCCC (519.0 yds/gm) and EMCC (471.3 yds/gm) are currently ranked second and fifth, respectively, among NJCAA Division I teams. Through the air, the Lions stand second nationally with an average of 368.3 passing yards per outing, while Gulf Coast is fifth at 282.0 passing yards per game.
EMCC’s Stephens owns an 11-3 career record (7-1 in Scooba & 4-2 in Perkinston) against Mississippi Gulf Coast, including wins over the Bulldogs during nine of the last 10 meetings between the two teams. Last season, the Lions earned a pair of road wins over MGCCC at A.L. May Memorial Stadium. After erasing a 24-point deficit midway through the third quarter of their regular-season meeting (Sept. 22) to pull off a stunning 48-45 come-from-behind victory, EMCC returned to Perkinston six weeks later (Nov. 5) to claim a 38-27 road win in the MACCC Semifinals en route to capturing the program’s eighth conference championship in 14 years a week later at Northwest Mississippi. Stephens’ EMCC teams are 6-1 in playoff meetings against Mississippi Gulf Coast, including conference title game victories over the Bulldogs during the 2009 (75-71) and 2011 (42-17) seasons in Scooba.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.