The Lions of East Mississippi Community College got two rushing touchdowns from Gavin Griffin last Thursday as they captured a 28-13 victory on the road at Mississippi Delta Community College in a game that was fairly quiet until the fourth quarter.
Griffin ran in a 3-yard carry for the first score of the game after a 13-play, 72-yard drive that took 4:52 off the clock, but that was all the scoring action for the first two quarters. Punts by both offenses filled the Delta night sky as neither could finish a drive. The Trojans, though, had a chance to score some points after a pass from quarterback Mitchell Davis to Dewayne Mosley went 47 yards and into Lion territory. EMCC’s defense tightened up and forced a field-goal attempt from 46 yards but Donald Passmore III got through the line and blocked the try. The Lions had two more unsuccessful scoring opportunities where they couldn’t finish the play. Noreel White dropped what would have been a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Trey Irving III on 4th-and-7, and kicker Hayden Houpt missed a 37-yard field goal wide right to close the first half.
Griffin gave his team a 14-0 lead after he scored his NJCAA-leading 16th rushing touchdown on a 4-yard run for the game’s only score in the third quarter.
It took until the fourth quarter, but both offenses finally found some rhythm. A blocked punt left EMCC on the Trojans’ 25-yard line, and quarterback Eric McGehee capitalized with an 8-yard run with 8:18 left to play. Another MDCC mistake left the Lions in good field position, this time it was a muffed punt that was recovered by Desmond Johnson. On the next play, Irving fired a 10-yard strike to Reggie Jackson in the end zone for the Lions’ last score.
The Trojans tried to stage a late comeback and scored two touchdowns in the final three minutes. A fumble recovery led to a 1-yard run by Chance Ross, and Dewayne Mosley ran in a 19-yard pass from quarterback Evans Schippers with 1:04 left to play.
Griffin finished with 84 yards on 22 carries, and Irving III ran for 78 yards on 12 totes. Through the air, Irving III went 20-of-40 for 238 yards, and Christian Thomas led the team with seven catches for 114 yards.
The victory is the Lions (6-2, 4-1 MACCC North) fourth in a row and sets up today’s regular-season finale against Holmes Community College at 7 p.m. in Scooba.
The Bulldogs are 3-5 overall with a 3-2 mark in MACCC North games this season and are coming off a 45-10 loss to Northwest Mississippi Community College last week.
Holmes is eighth in the conference in scoring with an average of 28.5 points per game. Led by quarterback Chase Richardson’s average of 210 yards per game, the Bulldogs boast a core six pass catchers all having over 200 yards each this season, including former Mississippi State Bulldog JJ Harrell. Defensively, the team allows 349.9 yards of offense a game, 188.1 of which are rushing.
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