EMCC Lions set to host Northeast Mississippi for Homecoming 2025 festivities on Scooba campus

SCOOBA – Coming off the MACCC's bye week and on the heels of two straight division road games, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College are set to begin a home-heavy month of October on the gridiron by playing host to the Northeast Mississippi Tigers as part of Saturday's EMCC Homecoming festivities on the Scooba campus. Kickoff for the MACCC North Division contest is set for 2 p.m. at Sullivan-Windham Field and will mark the Lions' first home football game action in exactly one month to the day. 

Along with the presentation of EMCC's 2025 Homecoming Court, Saturday's EMCC-NEMCC halftime activities will also feature the recognition of Richard Poole as EMCC's 2025 Alumnus of the Year and Linda Jackson as EMCC's 2025 Distinguished Service Award recipient.

Back over the .500 mark following their 52-10 win at Coahoma two Saturdays ago (Sept. 27) during the Tigers' Homecoming in Clarksdale, the 3-2 EMCC Lions (2-1 in MACCC North) improved their composite record to 19-5 in bounce-back games played following in-season losses during Buddy Stephens' EMCC head coaching career. The Lions' other wins on the year both came at home during consecutive weeks (7-6 over now-No. 9 Hinds on Sept. 4 and 34-28 over then-No. 3 Northwest Mississippi on Sept. 11). In contrast, EMCC's pair of losses this season have both come on the road (41-21 at now-No. 4 Mississippi Gulf Coast on Aug. 28 and 34-24 at Itawamba on Sept. 18).

EMCC's decisive 42-point road win over Coahoma two weeks ago was highlighted by the noteworthy collegiate playing debut of freshman quarterback Trey Irving III for the Lions. The 2024 MHSAA Class 5A Player of the Year out of Gautier High School accounted for 300 yards of total offense and was responsible for four touchdowns against the Tigers in place of injured EMCC quarterback Rodge Waldrop. In addition to completing 13-of-15 passes for 166 yards and two touchdown tosses versus Coahoma, Irving also rushed 11 times for 134 yards and a pair of scores on the ground.  

Statistically on the season for East Mississippi, sophomore running back Gavin Griffin ranks third among the MACCC leaders with an average of 102.6 rushing yards per outing after hitting the century mark on the ground for the third time in five games this season with his 100-yard, two-touchdown effort in 16 attempts at Coahoma two weeks ago. The Velma Jackson High School product is also tied for the NJCAA lead with eight rushing touchdowns on the year, which includes at least one score during each of the season's first five contests.

Through the air for the Lions, EMCC wide receiver Noreel White, a bounce-back from Ole Miss via St. Martin High School, stands second in the conference with 34 pass receptions on the season. Freshman receiver Christian Thomas, a Jacksonville State bounce-back out of Shades Valley High School in Alabama, is tied for eighth in the MACCC with 23 catches for the year.

The EMCC Lions will stay at home to play host to Pearl River this coming Thursday (Oct. 16) before playing their final road game of the regular season the following week (Oct. 23) at Mississippi Delta and then returning to Scooba to welcome Holmes in the regular-season finale on Oct. 30.

In his 14^th season on Northeast Mississippi's football staff and 11^th year as head coach, Greg Davis' Tigers are also 3-2 overall on the season but 1-2 in division play following consecutive MACCC North Division setbacks prior to the conference's bye week. After opening the 2025 campaign with successive victories over East Central (24-13), Southwest Mississippi (35-21) and Mississippi Delta (24-7), Northeast has since fallen at Holmes (43-27) and dropped a 34-27 home decision to now-No. 7 Northwest Mississippi to close out the month of September.

In his 18^th season as head coach of the Lions, EMCC's Stephens owns a 14-2 career record against Northeast Mississippi with identical 7-1 marks in games played in Scooba and Booneville. A season ago at Northeast, the Lions jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead four minutes into the game en route to claiming a solid 49-21 road win at Tiger Stadium. Two years ago during a homecoming matchup featuring a pair of top-15 teams, the home-standing Lions grabbed the upper hand in the 2023 MACCC North Division standings with a hard-fought 38-31 victory over visiting NEMCC on the way to claiming their 11^th division title dating back to 2008.

The Lions are unbeaten (16-0) in EMCC Homecoming contests during the Stephens era, including last year's 62-14 victory over the Coahoma Tigers. Coahoma and Northeast Mississippi are the Lions' most common homecoming opponents dating back to 2008 with four meetings apiece. Northeast previously served as EMCC's homecoming foe during the 2009, 2019, 2021 and 2023 seasons. Stephens-coached EMCC teams have defeated Holmes (2012 & 2018) and Itawamba (2015 & 2022) twice during Scooba homecomings. In addition, Mississippi Delta (2011), Northwest Mississippi (2016), Jones (2014) and Pearl River (2010) have all been one-time homecoming opponents for the Lions since the 2008 season.

Saturday's EMCC-Northeast contest will be broadcast live by WFCA-FM (107.9), out of French Camp, with Jason Crowder and Jevante McAdory slated to provide the play-by-play and color commentary, respectively. John King is also set to handle sideline reporting duties. The game's live-streamed audio will also be carried by EMCC's campus radio station, WGTC-FM (92.7), originating from the Golden Triangle campus in Mayhew. Along with EMCC's weekly live video-streamed football broadcasts being available in HD at emcclive.com, alternate audio streams of the Lions' radio broadcasts throughout the football season will also be accessible via wfca.fm.