EMCC Lions head to Coahoma Homecoming to mark midpoint of MACCC football regular season

SCOOBA – Reaching the midpoint of the 2025 MACCC football regular season, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College find themselves in bounce-back mode once again as they travel to Clarksdale to meet the Coahoma Tigers on Saturday (Sept. 27) afternoon. CCC's Homecoming contest against EMCC is set for a 2 p.m. kickoff at James E. Miller Stadium.

On the heels of last week's 34-24 road loss to Itawamba, the EMCC Lions (2-2, 1-1 MACCC North) will be looking to improve upon their composite record of 18-5 in bounce-back games played following in-season losses during Buddy Stephens' EMCC head coaching career (since 2008). Earlier this season, the Lions rebounded from their season-opening 41-21 road setback to now-No. 4 Mississippi Gulf Coast by holding on for a narrow 7-6 home win over now-No. 14 Hinds in Week 2.

A week ago, fresh off their 34-28 home upset victory over then-No. 3 and reigning MACCC champion Northwest Mississippi, the EMCC Lions scored the game's first 17 points at Itawamba before the home-standing Indians knotted the score late in the third quarter and then overtook the visitors with a dominant second half. ICC rattled off 34 unanswered points before EMCC scored again late in the contest to cut the final deficit to 10 points. The loss, coupled with last year's heartbreaking 36-34 home setback to Itawamba, marked the Lions' first back-to-back defeats at the hands of the Indians since before Stephens took over EMCC's head coaching duties.

Guided by MACCC coaching veteran and former Mississippi State University defensive standout Larry Williams, the Coahoma Tigers are winless in four attempts thus far on the 2025 football campaign after falling to Copiah-Lincoln (42-3), Jones (51-20), Holmes (53-14) and Northwest Mississippi (45-0). Williams is in his first year on the Coahoma sidelines after spending the previous eight seasons as the head football coach at Hinds. Former EMCC receiver Tonorris Brookins II is Coahoma's wide receivers coach on Williams' Tiger staff.

Coahoma currently stands as one of four MACCC schools that EMCC's Stephens remains undefeated against during his EMCC head coaching career. Along with owning 16-0 career records versus Coahoma and Mississippi Delta, he is also 5-0 against MACCC South Division foes East Central and Southwest Mississippi. Last year in Scooba (Sept. 28, 2024), the EMCC Lions extended their unbeaten streaks in Homecoming contests as well as in series meetings against Coahoma to 16 consecutive years under Stephens' guidance with a 62-14 victory over the visiting Tigers. In their most recent visit to Clarksdale two years ago (Oct. 12, 2023), the visiting Lions scored three quick touchdowns during the game's opening three minutes and 23 seconds of play on the way to posting an insurmountable 35-0 first-quarter lead and an eventual commanding 56-0 road victory over the Tigers.

Thursday's EMCC-Coahoma football contest will be live-streamed at https://coahomasports.com/watch.