SENATOBIA — There was still time for reflection Thursday night after the No. 1 East Mississippi Community College football team routed No. 2 Northwest Mississippi C.C. 34-6 in Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) North Division game at Bobby Franklin Field.
Last season, Northwest Mississippi C.C. ran 88 plays in a loss to EMCC in the MACJC State championship game. EMCC then-freshman defensive lineman Eriq Kitchen was on the field for most of those plays.
Even though EMCC won 67-66 in double overtime, the defense felt less than overjoyed after allowing 644 yards.
“It was just disgusting,” Kitchen said. “After a while, I quit looking at the scoreboard. They kept putting points up and our emotions kept going down.”
The win came slightly more than a month after Northwest Mississippi C.C. had earned a 61-38 regular-season victory on the same field. In that win, Northwest Mississippi C.C. racked up 566 yards on 88 plays.
“This is a much better feeling,” EMCC sophomore defensive back JaQuez Akins said. “Way, way better. This was total domination. They got us good last year. Twice. That’s not what we are supposed to do. This was different. This was domination. This was imposing our will. It feels great.
“Last time here, we won a championship. This time, we didn’t win anything other than just a game. However, I have to say I feel much better.”
EMCC held a third opponent below 200 yards and a second opponent below 100 yards.
Northwest ran 69 plays and gained 98 yards (1.4 per play). The Rangers turned the ball over four times and punted 12 times. Northwest was 4-for-19 on third down. The lone score was a punt return touchdown.
Last season, EMCC was cruising with a 6-0 mark before it lost to Northwest Mississippi C.C. There was no chance the defense would let that happen again.
“I’m not going to say we took them lightly (a year ago) because that wasn’t the case,” EMCC sophomore defensive lineman Everitt Cunningham said. “When you play Northwest, the antenna is always going to be high. This is a difficult place to play and win. This year, the antenna was a little bit higher because of last season. No doubt about it. The guys may have given that extra minute here or there to make sure last year didn’t repeat itself.
“The only thing I knew for sure when we left the locker room was we were going to play for 60 minutes.”
Kitchen said the EMCC coaching staff reminded the players Northwest Mississippi C.C. had what many considered the best offensive line in the league. The Lions’ front four took that as a personal challenge.
With Cunningham (three) and Sci Martin Jr. (two) leading the way, EMCC was credited with 10 sacks. The Lions had 17 tackles for loss. Kitchens had three-and-a-half of those, while Cunningham had three.
Entering the game, the Lions had 20 sacks and 57 tackles for loss.
“We took the challenge personally,” Kitchen said. “Don’t get me wrong. We respect (Northwest) a lot, and still do. However, that got kind of old in practice. We wanted to come out and show we can compete with one of the best offensive lines in the country. We are No. 1 for a reason.”
Cunningham said film study led him to believe Northwest Mississippi C.C. was a little slower along the line and in the backfield compared to last season. The Rangers played without Kevin Perkins, its top returning rusher from last season, who missed the game due to injury.
“We felt we could get in the backfield and dominate,” Cunningham said. “That was the plan from the start of the game.”
A week ago, EMCC beat then-No. 20 East Central C.C. 24-21 in Decatur. It was the first time since 2016 EMCC won a regular-season game by three points or less.
“We grew up a lot that game,” Akins said. “They really challenged us. The defense learned you have to play for 60 minutes. This game, we were going to give that maximum effort. That was missing in a few spots last week. This was the No. 1 team playing like the No. 1 team.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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