East Mississippi Community College will soon be on the road, headed to Little Rock, Arkansas, for the 2023 National Junior College Athletic Association Division I football national championship game on Wednesday night.
The Lions have the opportunity to win their sixth national title in program history, and first since 2018, but standing in their way is a familiar foe: Iowa Western CC.
The Reivers and Lions met up in 2014 for the national championship, a game won by EMCC, 34-17, in Biloxi.
Nearly a decade later, the two schools converge on War Memorial Stadium, and Iowa Western will almost certainly be looking for revenge.
For the third-straight season and ninth time over the past 12 seasons, the Reivers have posted a 10-plus-win season, currently 11-1 going into Wednesday. The No. 2 national seed in this season’s NJCAA playoffs, Iowa Western blew out Kilgore College in the semifinals, 47-7, to get to Arkansas.
That game was the largest margin of victory this season for the Reivers and second 35-plus-point victory overall, but this team is built for winning in any environment or game situation.
Iowa Western boasts one of the best all-around teams in junior college football, scoring 30.4 points per game offensively and allowing 17.3 points per game defensively. The Reivers’ defense, however, is the team’s focal point, allowing just 233 yards per game in 2023.
Players of note to watch out for with the Reivers include defensive lineman Clev Rubin, who’s second on the team in total tackles, but first in sacks with 11.5 and forced fumbles with four and defensive lineman Jaylen Pettus, who was third on the team with seven sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss.
Joshua Pierre-Louis heads up the secondary, one of the interception leaders in juco football with seven on the year.
Alongside him include Samuel Robertson, who has three interceptions and four pass breakups, and Legend Doggett, who has three interceptions and a team-leading nine pass breakups.
Offensively, it’s the running game EMCC needs to be most prepared for, with three Reivers players running for 600 yards or more on the ground.
Quarterback Hunter Watson is a dual threat, totaling over 2,300 yards of total offense (1,700 passing, 609 rushing) and 25 total touchdowns. His 19:4 touchdown-to-interception ratio ranks among the best in the country.
Leading backs Jonathan Humpal and Bryant Williams have a combined 1,378 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns, and they’ll be used plenty on Wednesday.
Iowa Western’s lone loss of the season came at the hands of Hutchinson CC, 42-28, in its regular season finale. EMCC took down Hutchinson in the semis on the road, 27-23 in a tightly contested affair.
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