.jpg "Image") EMCC sophomore Will Lummus claimed All-Around Champion honors in leading the Lions’ rodeo team to a third-place finish at the fall-opening Viking Stampede Rodeo hosted by Missouri Valley College this past weekend.
Highlighted by sophomore Will Lummus’ first-place showing and 170 points in the steer wrestling event, the Lions totaled 400 points to finish behind runner-up Tennessee-Martin (585 points) and team champion Missouri Valley (835) in the men’s team standings. Lummus, a former Oak Hill Academy standout, also paired with fellow sophomore and OHA product Taylor White to earn second-place honors in the team roping competition.
For his multi-event efforts this past weekend, Lummus earned All-Around Champion honors at the Missouri Valley-hosted rodeo. This past June, Lummus qualified in the steer wrestling event at the College National Finals Rodeo in Wyoming.
EMCC newcomers Andrew Yates, of Crystal Springs, and Scooter Scarbrough, of Florence, collected 50 and 20 points, respectively, in the calf roping event at MVC. Scarbrough, from Simpson County Academy, also paired with Belzoni’s Martin Walker to add another 40 points in the team roping competition for the Lions.
Sporting a six-member women’s squad this season, the Lady Lions claimed 155 total points to finish just 30 points behind host and runner-up Missouri Valley. Troy University captured women’s team honors with 465 total points. Freshman Kellie Hailey, of Macon’s Central Academy, collected 95 points for the EMCC women in her collegiate debut with a fourth-place showing in breakaway roping and a Top 10 finish in the goat tying event. Fellow Lady Lion newcomer Kimberly Sanchagrin, last year’s Mississippi All-Around Cowgirl from East Rankin Academy, contributed a fifth-place tie in breakaway roping to round out the women’s scoring for EMCC.
Head coach Morgan Goodrich’s East Mississippi CC rodeo teams return to competition Oct. 13-15 at the University of West Alabama rodeo in Livingston. A year ago, the EMCC Lions captured the men’s team title at the UWA Rodeo Showdown in just their third rodeo of the program’s initial season of competition.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 26 September 2011 )
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SCOOBA – Following three close games decided by 10 collective points to start the year, the fourth-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College bolted to a 38-0 halftime lead on the way to cruising to a convincing 48-7 home triumph over Itawamba in MACJC North Division football action Thursday evening at the New Sullivan-Windham Field on the Scooba campus.
Entering the game ranked seventh nationally in team total offense, head coach Buddy Stephens’ EMCC Lions outgained the visiting Indians, 574-151, in total offense and more than doubled ICC in first downs (25-12) on the night to move to 4-0 on the year for the first time since 1974. With their fifth straight series win over Itawamba, the Lions are now 28-8 overall and 18-2 in division play under Stephens’ guidance dating back to 2008.
In the opening half, the Lions scored on all but one of their seven possessions, while the Indians were held to four three-and-out possessions through the first two quarters. After ICC’s opening drive stalled at the Lions’ 29-yard line, EMCC needed just a little over a minute to set the tone for the contest by going 66 yards on six plays to score first on Bo Wallace’s 23-yard touchdown pass to current NJCAA Special Teams Player of the Week Rodney Davis at the 10:11 mark of the opening period.
A 24-yard field goal by EMCC’s Taylor Walker with 6:21 remaining and a 1-yard burst by running back Rodriguez Moore with 5.6 seconds left increased the Lions’ lead to 17-0 after the opening quarter of play.
Having established control of the game early with their nationally rated offense, the Lions essentially put the contest away with a 21-0 second quarter in which the EMCC defensive unit limited Itawamba to just six yards of total offense.
Sophomore wide receiver Lacoltan Bester got things started for the home team in the second quarter by snaring a Wallace pass over the middle and cutting left for a 35-yard touchdown reception with 8:16 remaining. Moore, a freshman back from Bastrop, La., followed four minutes later with a 27-yard scoring run that started right and ended with a dive just inside the left pylon at the 4:06 mark. Freshman reserve back Billy Shed, of Starkville, capped the first-half scoring with a 15-yard touchdown reception out of the backfield from Wallace with just 39.2 seconds left before intermission.
Itawamba’s lone score of the night came on a 3-yard dart up the middle from quarterback Darren Daniel with 2:47 remaining in the third quarter. The Indians fell to 0-4 on the season in dropping their divisional opener.
The Lions tacked on a 25-yard field goal from Walker – his fifth 3-pointer of the campaign in eight attempts – at the 12:03 mark of the fourth quarter, plus a 3-yard scoring run by Shed with 3:04 left, to give EMCC its biggest scoring output since last year’s 49-14 victory at Coahoma.
Individually for EMCC, Wallace completed 26-of-37 passes for 329 yards, including three touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. The former Arkansas State transfer found 11 different receivers on the night, led by Bester’s seven grabs for 86 yards and one touchdown. The former Kemper County product now has a team-high 25 receptions and four touchdown catches for the season.
With 210 rushing yards on 37 attempts as a team, the Lions’ effective ground game was led by Moore’s 92 rushing yards on 11 carries.
The EMCC Lions stay at home to welcome the Tigers of Coahoma Community College next Thursday (Sept. 29) in a divisional matchup set for a 7 p.m. kickoff at the New Sullivan-Windham Field on the Scooba campus.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 23 September 2011 )
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.jpg "Image") As the fourth-ranked EMCC Lions prepare for Thursday’s home divisional football contest against Itawamba, sophomore wide receiver/kick returner Rodney Davis has been named the NJCAA’s Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts in EMCC’s key 45-42 road win over Northwest Mississippi last week in Senatobia.
A 6-foot-1, 200-pound performer from Millbrook, Ala., Davis amassed 322 yards of all-purpose running with two touchdowns last week against the then-No. 4 Northwest Rangers in Senatobia. Along with his 100-yard touchdown return of a missed field-goal attempt, Davis had two receptions for 113 yards, including a 62-yard touchdown catch, and ran back two kickoffs that totaled 104 return yards in the divisional victory over Northwest.
In addition to earning this week’s NJCAA national honor, Davis has also been recognized as an MACJC Star of the Week, as accorded by The Clarion-Ledger newspaper and the jucoweekly.org website. For the year, the former Stanhope Elmore High School product ranks fourth among the national leaders with 292 total kickoff return yards in nine runbacks for a 32.4-yards-per-return average. Davis is also averaging 24.2 yards on 10 receptions, including a pair of scoring grabs, on the season.
Earlier this season, East Mississippi freshman quarterback Bo Wallace (Pulaski, Tenn.) collected the NJCAA’s Offensive Player of the Week honor and earned MACJC Star of the Week recognition for his efforts in the Lions’ key 34-30 season-opening home victory over then-No. 2 and reigning state champion Mississippi Gulf Coast.
With their highest national ranking since concluding EMCC’s 2009 state championship campaign with a No. 4 NJCAA rating, head coach Buddy Stephens’ fourth-ranked Lions are 3-0 overall and 1-0 in divisional play on the year with their three victories coming by a collective total of only 10 points.
Guided by second-year head coach Jon Williams, the Itawamba Indians are looking for their initial victory of the season after dropping non-divisional decisions to Hinds (44-24), Pearl River (34-8) and East Central (24-17) to start the year. Most recently, ICC squandered a 17-0 halftime lead at home in falling to East Central a week ago. Thursday’s road meeting with EMCC will mark the Indians’ 2011 divisional opener.
In recent gridiron meetings between the two divisional rivals, East Mississippi has prevailed over Itawamba each of the last four years. The two most recent EMCC-ICC battles have both been contested in Fulton with the Lions claiming road decisions last season (37-10) and two years ago (28-6). In a designated home contest for EMCC, the 2008 Lions earned a 40-34 triumph over Itawamba at West Point High School to clinch the MACJC North Division championship. This year will mark the first Scooba meeting between the two teams since the visiting Indians posted a 29-23 road win over the Lions during the 2006 campaign.
Thursday’s EMCC-ICC clash will be broadcast live by WFCA-FM radio (107.9), out of French Camp, with Jason Crowder and Glen Beard set to describe the play-by-play action and John Lyle Briggs serving as the Lions’ sideline reporter. The live video-streamed broadcast will be available at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/emcc-football and can be accessed through EMCC’s athletics website - http://athletics.eastms.edu. An alternate audio stream of the radio broadcast will also be available by logging onto www.wfca108.com.
As a special recognition during this week’s football action, Lady Lions head coach Kate Neely’s 2011 MACJC North Division championship softball team will be honored at halftime of Thursday’s EMCC-ICC contest.
East Mississippi’s current two-game home stand will continue one week from Thursday (Sept. 29), as the Lions welcome the Tigers of Coahoma Community College to the Scooba campus for a 7 p.m. contest at EMCC’s New Sullivan-Windham Field.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 21 September 2011 )
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.jpg "Image") Head coach Buddy Stephens’ unbeaten EMCC Lions will put their No. 4 national ranking to the test with an upcoming two-game home stand against Itawamba this Thursday and the following week versus Coahoma. Both home contests are slated for 7 p.m. kickoffs at EMCC’s New Sullivan-Windham Field on the Scooba campus.
Head coach Buddy Stephens’ 3-0 EMCC Lions moved up four notches to No. 4 in the current NJCAA poll after knocking off their second nationally ranked top five opponent of the young season with last Thursday’s 45-42 road triumph over then-No. 4 Northwest Mississippi. After ushering in the school’s new football stadium with their 34-30 home win over reigning state champion and preseason second-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast on Sept. 1, the Lions followed the next week with a 20-17 road victory over Hinds, which last week shut out then-No. 20 Copiah-Lincoln in Wesson and has thus received votes in this week’s poll.
EMCC’s current No. 4 rating marks the Lions’ highest national ranking in football since concluding their state championship 2009 campaign with a school-best 11-1 record and No. 4 ranking. The 2009 EMCC squad was ranked as high as second nationally early in the season en route to claiming a school-first MACJC state football championship and earning a subsequent Mississippi Bowl victory over Arizona Western.
This week’s NJCAA football poll remained unchanged at the top with Navarro College and Blinn College from the state of Texas occupying the No. 1 and 2 positions, respectively. Arizona Western again held down the third spot, and Iowa Western climbed a notch to No. 5. Following its narrow home loss to EMCC last week, Northwest Mississippi fell to a ninth-place tie with Trinity Valley CC. MACJC South Division foes Mississippi Gulf Coast and Pearl River settled in at No. 13 and 15, respectively, while Northeast Mississippi entered the Top 20 poll at No. 19 on the strength of a 3-0 start to the year.
For the fourth straight year under Stephens’ leadership, the EMCC Lions again rate high among the nation’s team statistical leaders on the offensive side of the ball, entering this week’s action ranked second in passing offense with an average of 353 passing yards per game and seventh nationally with 469 yards of total offense an outing. Triggering the Lions’ potent passing attack is freshman quarterback Bo Wallace (Pulaski, Tenn.), who stands second nationally in passing offense as well as total offense with per-game averages of 353 and 364.3 yards, respectively.
With Wallace having completed passes to 10 different receivers on the year, the Lions’ leading pass-catcher through three games is sophomore Lacoltan Bester from nearby Kemper County High School. The Scooba native tops a quintet of double-digit EMCC receivers with a team-high 18 catches for 267 yards and three touchdowns. Fellow sophomores Hamp Glover and JJ Harbin, former Meridian High School teammates, follow with 16 and 11 receptions, respectively.
Protected by a sophomore-laden offensive line, EMCC’s running game to this point has been spearheaded by freshman back Rodriguez Moore. The Bastrop, La., native is ranked 11th nationally with an average of 103.7 rushing yards per contest, highlighted by his 202-yard ground performance at Hinds two weeks ago.
Defensively, All-America candidate Denico Autry continues to make headlines for East Mississippi, leading the Lions with 33 total tackles on the year, including a 17-yard sack and four other tackles for loss, as well as 19 quarterback hurries and a forced fumble. In the secondary, freshman Shaquille Fluker, of Meridian, has been credited with 32 total stops, including a team-most 23 solo tackles, while West Point’s Jeremy Cannon has 20 tackles for the season along with a pair of fumble recoveries for 122 total yards and a 21-yard interception return. Fellow West Point native Justin Cox, a freshman safety, remains among the national leaders with his three interceptions that all came in the Lions’ season-opening win over Gulf Coast.
East Mississippi’s three victories this season have been decided by a collective total of only 10 points, with a pair of three-point wins and a four-point triumph. The last time EMCC opened a football season with four straight wins came in 1974 when former head coach Bill Buckner’s Lions were 5-0 to start the year on the way to an 8-2 campaign.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 20 September 2011 )
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.jpg "Image") EMCC sophomore receiver/returner Rodney Davis has been selected an MACJC Star of the Week, as accorded by The Clarion-Ledger newspaper and jucoweekly.org website, for his outstanding performance in the eighth-ranked Lions’ 45-42 road win over No. 8 Northwest Mississippi last week in Senatobia.
EMCC sophomore wide receiver/kick returner Rodney Davis is one of two Mississippi junior college performers recognized as MACJC Stars of the Week in the Sunday Blitz section of The Clarion-Ledger newspaper, in conjunction with the jucoweekly.org website. Sophomore quarterback Ryan Mossakowski of Northwest Mississippi is the other player honored in Sunday’s issue of the newspaper.
Davis, a former prep standout at Stanhope Elmore High School in Millbrook, Ala., accounted for 322 yards of all-purpose running and two touchdowns in eighth-ranked EMCC’s 45-42 road win over No. 4 Northwest Mississippi last Thursday in Senatobia. In addition to his rare 100-yard touchdown return of a missed field-goal attempt at the end of the third quarter, Davis had two receptions for 113 yards, including a 62-yard scoring grab in the second quarter. He also ran back two kickoffs for the Lions that totaled 104 return yards in the contest.
Davis, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound performer, amassed his 322 yards of all-purpose running on just nine touches of the football on offense and special teams play combined. He also had two end-around running plays for five total yards and fielded a pair of punts that netted zero return yards.
For the season, Davis presently leads the NJCAA individual statistical leaders with a total of 292 yards on just nine kickoff returns for an average of 32.4 yards per runback. Davis also has 10 receptions on the year for 242 yards and a pair of touchdown catches. A year ago as an EMCC freshman, Davis led the Lions in receptions (29), receiving yards (456) and touchdown receptions (6). Along with averaging 22.2 yards on 28 kickoff returns last season, Davis also handled EMCC’s punting chores in 2010.
Earlier this season, EMCC freshman quarterback Bo Wallace was selected as an MACJC Star of the Week by The Clarion-Ledger/jucoweekly.org, as well as being tabbed the NJCAA’s Offensive Player of the Week, for his efforts in the Lions’ 34-30 season-opening home win over then-No. 2 Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Head coach Buddy Stephens’ 3-0 Lions of East Mississippi Community College, ranked eighth in last week’s NJCAA national poll, return home to their New Sullivan-Windham Field to begin a two-game home stand by playing host to MACJC North Division rival Itawamba CC on Thursday (Sept. 22). EMCC will stay at home to welcome Coahoma Community College the following Thursday (Sept. 29). Both upcoming home divisional contests are set for 7 p.m. kickoffs on the Scooba campus.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 18 September 2011 )
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