SCOOBA — When facing adversity for the first time this season, the No. 3 East Mississippi Community College football team played like a champion.
Trailing by 14 points in the first half and by seven points in the second half, the defending national champions showed their mettle and gutted out a 56-49 win against No. 5 Northwest Mississippi C.C. before a standing-room only crowd at Sullivan-Windham Field.
The victory allowed the Lions to keep their national title defense alive and to wrap up the North Division championship for the fourth time in Buddy Stephens’ five seasons as head coach.
“I really like games like that because what you saw is big-time players making big-time plays,” said EMCC sophomore running back Rodriguez Moore, who notched his fifth 100-yard rushing game with a season-high 144 yards. “We made big plays in the running game and the passing game. We showed we have some fight.”
EMCC improved to 8-0 and 5-0 in the MACJC North Division. The national rankings haven’t had the Lions at No. 1 based on a supposedly weak schedule. Last season, EMCC defeated six ranked opponents on the way to the nation title. Thursday was the first time this season EMCC faced a ranked foe.
“We always knew we had this in us,” EMCC sophomore running back Xavier Hogan said. “As long as we come out and execute, there is nobody that can stop us. We have been waiting for a game like this. Boy, it came at the perfect time.”
EMCC had 34 first downs and 675 yards of offense. Shredding the state’s top defense, the Lions ran 90 plays and had seven scoring drives of 69 yards or more
Quarterback Quez Johnson was 30 of 44 for 381 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed for a season-high 114 yards and ran for three scores.
“Quez was a warrior,” Stephens said. “He was absolutely incredible. He made plays with his arm and he made plays with his legs. He had a determination. After the first possession, his confidence was sky high.”
EMCC took that opening possession 86 yards on three plays in 53 seconds. Johnson hit Billy Shed for a 40-yard gain on a slant pattern, hit Nick Brassell in the flats for a 21-yard play, and hit Corey Smith in the back of the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown.
“We had some lows but we kept playing hard,” Johnson said. “Our confidence was way high after that first score. We felt like they couldn’t stop anything we were doing after that. They came in here with the No. 1 defense in the state and we scored 56 points on them. That gives us lots of confidence for the rest of the year.”
Northwest (6-1, 5-1) answered with former Columbus High School standout Damian Baker leading the way. Baker ran for 141 yards and scored both of his touchdowns on his team’s first two possessions.
Late in the first quarter, the Rangers built a 21-7 lead on a 65-yard scoring strike from Domonique Harris to Darreall Joyner.
EMCC entered the game with 10 straight scoreless quarters on defense. Northwest made quick work of that statistic with 241 yards of offense in the first quarter.
“I will admit it, we were down on defense,” EMCC sophomore defensive back Jason Yarbor said. “We hadn’t seen anything like that they did to us in the first quarter. But we hung tight as brothers and made plays when we had to.”
EMCC proved worthy of matching score-for-score with three second-quarter touchdowns to take a 35-28 halftime advantage.
The turning point might have happened late in the second quarter. With a tied score, Northwest elected to punt on fourth-and-inches at the EMCC 47-yard line. With 2 minutes, 43 seconds left before halftime, the punt was downed at the EMCC 3. EMCC then moved 97 yards on 10 plays in 2 minutes, 20 seconds. Johnson was 6 of 6 on the drive. Four receivers caught balls, with Nick Brassell making a highlight catch from 9 yards out for the points.
“It was a championship drive,” Hogan said. “I don’t know if any professional teams could have done it any better.”
Northwest responded with back-to-back scores for a 42-35 third-quarter lead. The go-ahead points came on a 79-yard interception return by Aaron Thompson when Johnson underthrew a ball in the flats.
Prior to the game, EMCC had trailed only four times all season, and to two opponents. The largest deficit was three points, and none of those had been in the second half.
“We had not faced adversity all year,” Stephens said. “Now was the time to see how this particular team would respond.”
The response could have been expected. Despite giving up 606 yards of offense, EMCC defense answered the call. Quarterback Domonique Harris threw for 421 yards, but his squad saw four of five possessions end with pass interceptions after taking the 42-35 advantage.
Yarbor and Justin Cox each had two pass interceptions in the game-changing burst by the defense. Shaquille Fluker had a first-half interception as the squad nabbed five takeaways.
“We are 11 players, but we play as one,” Fluker said. “No matter how bad it gets we look at each other and we know that somebody is going to make the next big play.”
EMCC tied the game on a 14-yard run by Johnson and took the lead for good on a 2-yard run by Xavier Hogan. The Lions built a 14-point lead and made it three straight touchdowns when Martay Mattox hauled in a 23-yard aerial from Johnson.
After that, the postgame fireworks could be prepared as the Lions moved the school-record win streak to 20 straight games. While the game counts as one win, it could mean so much more by season’s end.
“This was big,” Stephens said. “I mean, this was really, really big.”
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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