EMCC's Rodney Davis earns NJCAA football honor; No. 4 Lions set to host Itawamba Thursday

SCOOBA – Set to begin a two-game home stand Thursday, fourth-ranked East Mississippi Community College continues to reap the rewards from its second victory over a Top 5 football opponent this month.  As the Lions prepare for Thursday's 7 p.m. home contest against Itawamba at the New Sullivan-Windham Field, EMCC sophomore wide receiver/kick returner Rodney Davis has been tabbed the NJCAA's Special Teams Player of the Week for his all-around performance in the Lions' 45-42 road win over nationally ranked Northwest Mississippi a week ago.

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.