East Mississippi Community College found additional incentive for its final football game of the regular season Tuesday afternoon.
The latest National Junior College Athletic Association national rankings moved EMCC from eighth to third in the nation. Thus, the Lions saw a shot in the arm to the quest for a third straight national championship.
EMCC will close the regular season Thursday with a Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges North Division matchup with Mississippi Delta Community College.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Moorhead.
“All you can do is focus on the game you are about to play,” EMCC sophomore running back D.J. Law said. “You can’t get caught up in the rankings. You have to do your job each week and finish 1-0.”
EMCC (7-1, 5-0 division) won its sixth straight with a 49-16 win over then-No. 3 Northwest Mississippi Community College Thursday in Scooba. While it was EMCC’s first win over a ranked opponent this season, the victory had more staying power than one first thought.
With three more polls set for release this season, EMCC trails only Butler Community College (Kansas) and Rochester Community and Technical College (Minnesota) in the national rankings. Those are the only two 8-0 teams in the NJCAA. EMCC is 13.5 points behind Rochester but comfortably ahead of No. 4 Coffeyville College (Kansas) by 12.5 points. That is huge with EMCC’s strength of schedule likely to take a hit by facing Delta (2-6, 2-3).
Butler has three games remaining, while the Rochester regular season is complete.
EMCC won its fifth straight North Division title by beating Northwest. By virtue of winning the division, EMCC will have home-field advantage in the MACJC playoffs. The Lions could and will most likely need to face two ranked opponents to have any chance of moving into one of the top two spots.
EMCC’s lone loss was in the second week of the regular season at Copiah-Lincoln Community College. EMCC got that win back by forfeit from the MACJC because Co-Lin used in an ineligible player. So while EMCC is considered 8-0 within in the state, the record remains 7-1 overall on the national level because use of the ineligible player was not an NJCAA violation.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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