.jpg "Image") All-America quarterback Bo Wallace has capped his record-setting football season for the NJCAA Champion Lions of East Mississippi Community College by being named the 2011 NJCAA Football Offensive Player of the Year.
Wallace, who redshirted at Arkansas State University a year ago, paid immediate dividends during his transfer season with head coach Buddy Stephens’ NJCAA Champion EMCC Lions. As a first-team NJCAA All-American, Wallace established new NJCAA single-season standards for most passing yards (4,604), most yards of total offense (4,810) and most touchdowns thrown (53). Along with completing 336-of-502 (67%) passes, with only 14 interceptions in a dozen outings, Wallace also rushed for 206 yards and five touchdowns on 61 carries to lead East Mississippi to a school-first national football title. He is only the second player in NJCAA history to surpass the 4,000-yard mark passing and the first freshman to win the offensive award since 2004.
“It feels great not only for me, but for my teammates, coaches and the entire East Mississippi Community College family,” Wallace noted about the Lions’ history-making 2011 season. “This season has been a dream year for all of us. It just goes to show how hard work during the off-season can pay off and about what can be achieved when a coaching staff puts players in position to win games.”
A three-time NJCAA Offensive Player of the Week selection this season, Wallace, of Pulaski, Tenn., capped his record-setting campaign by earning Offensive Game MVP honors following the Lions’ 55-47 El Toro Bowl victory over previously unbeaten Arizona Western College in this year’s NJCAA Football Championship Game played Dec. 3 in Yuma, Ariz. Against AWC in the title game, the 6-foot-5, 210-pound signal-caller completed 31-of-44 passes for 486 yards and seven touchdowns, the most ever thrown in an NJCAA-sanctioned national title game.
Wallace’s prolific 2011 season through the air included five games with 400 or more passing yards and four outings with seven touchdown passes. Having thrown for at least three touchdowns in all but one of EMCC’s 12 games this past year, Wallace recorded seven-touchdown outings against AWC and Hinds during the postseason as well as in back-to-back games versus Coahoma and Northeast Mississippi in the regular season. While passing for no less than 276 yards in every contest during the Lions’ perfect 12-0 campaign, Wallace’s top yardage mark on the year was a 549-yard effort on 26-of-33 passing, along with seven scoring tosses and no interceptions, at Northeast.
In directing a potent EMCC offensive attack that averaged an NJCAA-best 389.3 passing yards and 556.3 yards of total offense per game, Wallace was earlier chosen as the 2011 NJCAA Region 23 Most Valuable Player as well as the Offensive Back MVP of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior College’s (MACJC) North Division. With Wallace as their versatile triggerman, the Lions also averaged 47.4 points per game offensively on the year, including six contests – all coming during the last eight games of the season – with 50 or more points scored.
Annually listed among the nation’s top-rated offensive units dating back to Stephens’ arrival on the Scooba campus, the East Mississippi Lions have now touted an NJCAA All-America quarterback each of the last four seasons. A year ago for EMCC, Brad Henderson, of Starkville, garnered honorable mention accolades prior to moving onto Northwestern (La.) State. Prior to that, current Ole Miss quarterback Randall Mackey, of Bastrop, La., collected first-team NJCAA All-America honors as a sophomore and honorable mention laurels as a freshman in pacing the EMCC Lions to a two-year mark of 19-3, including a school-first MACJC state championship in 2009.
EMCC’s Wallace becomes the first player from a Mississippi-based school to receive NJCAA Player of the Year honors since former Pearl River Community College quarterback Jimmy Oliver claimed back-to-back POTY recognition in 2004 and 2005. Previously, defensive backs Larry Kendrick of PRCC and Jamaal Jackson of Northwest Mississippi grabbed national defensive plaudits in 2003 and 2002, respectively.
Prior to the national office splitting the NJCAA Player of the Year selection into yearly offensive and defensive honorees beginning in 2000, previous national winners from Mississippi-based programs have included running back Terrance Williams (1998) and quarterback Fred Taylor (1995) from Hinds Community College along with quarterback Russell Evans (1992) out of Northwest Mississippi CC.
Before beginning his collegiate career, Wallace completed his prep playing days at Pulaski’s Giles County High School ranked fifth all-time in Tennessee high school history with 8,778 career yards of total offense and seventh all-time with 6,395 career passing yards. In leading the Bobcats to the 2009 Class 4A state championship with a 14-1 record, Wallace was tabbed All-Midstate Player of the Year by The Tennessean newspaper and Region 12-4A MVP as a senior after throwing for 3,288 yards and 37 touchdowns (with only five interceptions) on 205-of-293 (70%) passing. He also rushed for 907 yards and 10 touchdowns on 137 attempts to account for a state-record 4,195 yards of total offense and 47 touchdowns during his final prep campaign.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 15 December 2011 )
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.jpg "Image") SCOOBA – Just over a week removed from earning their first national championship on the football field, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College are now also being recognized as this year’s national junior college football champions in the JCGridiron.com Dirty 30 National Junior College Rankings.
In its seventh season of existence, the JCGridiron.com Dirty 30 National Junior College Rankings include the NJCAA-affiliated member football teams across the country as well as the highly successful programs associated with the talent-laden California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA).
On the heels of their 55-47 El Toro Bowl win over previously unbeaten Arizona Western College in this year’s NJCAA Football Championship Game, played Dec. 3 in Yuma, Ariz., head coach Buddy Stephens’ 12-0 EMCC Lions earned JCGridiron.com’s top nod over No. 2 City College of San Francisco. The CCSF Rams, a perennial powerhouse in the CCCAA, most recently claimed a 52-42 win over Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) this past Saturday in the CCCAA State Championship Game.
“At the end of the day, it was a very tough decision to make, as one team is always going to feel shortchanged,” said JCGridiron.com publisher Brad Hoiseth. “However, after seeing both teams, we at JCGridiron.com feel very confident in our decision about our new champion.”
Arizona Western settled in at the No. 3 spot in the 2011 Dirty 30 final rankings, followed by Riverside (Calif.) and Grand Rapids (Mich.) at fourth and fifth, respectively. The remaining Top 10 teams included: No. 6 American River (Calif.); No. 7 Mississippi Gulf Coast; No. 8 Mt. SAC; No. 9 Navarro (Texas); and No. 10 Butler (Kan.).
Established in 2005, the JCGridiron.com Dirty 30 national team rankings reflect performances on the field, strength of schedules in conference play, team records and results, as well as notable players at key positions. In becoming the first NJCAA-affiliated program to win the JCGridiron.com national title since 2007, East Mississippi also ranks as the second Mississippi school to claim the Dirty 30 title after Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College shared the honor with Butler (Kan.) CC in 2007.
Other previous winners of the JCGridiron.com Dirty 30 national title were Mt. San Antonio College (2010 & 2009), Butte (Calif.) in 2008, Blinn (Texas) College in 2006, and Glendale (Ariz.) in 2005. Following their first-ever MACJC state championship and subsequent Mississippi Bowl victory over Arizona Western two years ago, the EMCC Lions were ranked second nationally, behind Mt. SAC, in the 2009 final rankings by JCGridiron.com.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 13 December 2011 )
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 EMCC gridiron standouts Bo Wallace (right) and Denico Autry have been named to the 2011 NJCAA Football All-America First Team after helping lead the 12-0 Lions to a school-first national championship.
The standout Lion tandem capped EMCC’s undefeated national championship campaign by collecting Offensive Game MVP and Defensive MVP honors, respectively, following East Mississippi’s 55-47 El Toro Bowl victory over previously unbeaten Arizona Western College in this year’s NJCAA Football Championship Game played Dec. 3 in Yuma, Ariz.
The most prolific quarterback in NJCAA single-season history, Wallace paid immediate dividends for the 12-0 EMCC Lions by establishing new NJCAA single-season standards for most passing yards (4,604), most yards of total offense (4,810) and most touchdowns thrown (53). Most recently in the Lions’ El Toro Bowl win over host AWC, the former Arkansas State University redshirt eclipsed the NJCAA season mark for touchdown passes by tossing seven scoring aerials in a game for the fourth time on the year.
For the season, Wallace achieved his national-record 4,604 yards through the air on 336-of-502 (67%) passing with only 14 interceptions in a dozen contests. The Pulaski, Tenn., native also ran for 206 yards (on 61 carries) and five scores to account for an all-time, NJCAA-best 4,810 yards of total offense as well as 58 touchdowns on the year.
A three-time NJCAA Offensive Player of the Week this season, Wallace was previously chosen the NJCAA Region 23 Most Valuable Player and the Offensive Back MVP of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior College’s (MACJC) North Division. In addition, the 6-foot-5, 210-pound signal-caller looks to be a leading contender for the 2011 NJCAA Offensive Player of the Year honor.
A destructive force all season long on East Mississippi’s talent-laden defensive line, Autry led all Lion defensive linemen with 81 total stops (54 solos and 27 assists), including a team-high 11 sacks for 71 yards lost and club-most 13 other tackles for loss for an additional 37 yards behind the line of scrimmage. The Albemarle, N.C., native was also credited with 41 quarterback hurries, four pass breakups and a pair of forced fumbles on the season.
Credited with 141 total tackles (97 solos & 44 assists) during his two-year EMCC stint, including 16.5 career sacks (for -113 yards) and 24 other tackles for loss (-60 yards), Autry was previously selected as this year’s Defensive Line MVP of the MACJC’s North Division. The 6-foot-6, 255-pound defensive stalwart also received NJCAA All-Region 23 honors this season.
This season marks the fourth straight year that East Mississippi Community College has had at least two NJCAA All-Americans during the same season under the leadership of fourth-year head football coach Buddy Stephens. A season ago, former EMCC defensive lineman Quinton Dial (Clay, Ala.) was named to the 2010 NJCAA All-America Second Team prior to signing with the University of Alabama. In addition, former Lion quarterback Brad Henderson, of Starkville, was an honorable mention selection last year before signing with Northwestern State (La.) University.
Following East Mississippi’s state championship campaign of 2009, quarterback Randall Mackey was tabbed NJCAA All-America First Team before moving onto the University of Mississippi. Mackey, a native of Bastrop, La., also earned honorable mention accolades as a collegiate freshman for the Lions in 2008.
In Stephens’ first year at the EMCC helm, wide receiver/kick returner Leon Berry, of Griffin, Ga., made the 2008 NJCAA All-America Second Team before lettering two seasons at Mississippi State University. That same year, former University of Florida transfer Jamar Hornsby (Jacksonville, Fla.) was named NJCAA All-America Second Team as a defensive back for the Lions.
The 75 student-athletes awarded NJCAA All-America football honors this season were nominated by their respective conference and then selected by the NJCAA football committee.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 12 December 2011 )
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HANCEVILLE, Ala. – The Lady Lions of East Mississippi Community College battled back from a nine-point halftime deficit to pull out a 63-62 road win over Wallace State CC Saturday afternoon at Tom Drake Coliseum.
Trailing 36-27 at the intermission, the EMCC women made the necessary halftime adjustments and ramped up their transition game in the second stanza. After catching up and taking a slim lead late in the game, the visitors fell back behind 62-61 with less than 30 seconds remaining on a three-point play by Wallace State’s Presley Darling, who converted an EMCC turnover into a bucket and subsequent free throw.
Capping a frantic final half-minute of play in which both teams traded possessions on a pair of tie-ups, EMCC freshman standout Jeraldine Campbell scored the winning basket with 1.3 ticks left on an inbounds hand-off from backcourt mate Chadisty Hickman.
Campbell, a former Dandy Dozen selection at Noxubee County, totaled a game-high 25 points along with six rebounds and six steals. Hickman, of Kemper County, posted equally impressive numbers in the comeback victory with 20 points, eight boards and four steals.
Wallace State, a reigning NJCAA Tournament team from a year ago, fell to 5-6 with the setback. The home-standing Lady Lions were led by Darling’s 20 points and nine rebounds.
Head coach Sharon Thompson’s EMCC Lady Lions improved to 3-6 overall on the year with their second straight victory. Following the Christmas break, they will play host to Shelton State CC on Thursday, Jan. 5 in a 6 p.m. tip-off at EMCC’s Keyes T. Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 10 December 2011 )
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