EMCC Lions step out of division to play host to Pearl River during Thursday MACCC action

SCOOBA – Stepping out of divisional play for the final time this regular season, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College stay at home to play host to MACCC South Division foe Pearl River Community College during Thursday's conference gridiron action. Kickoff for the EMCC-PRCC interdivisional matchup is set for 7 p.m. at Sullivan-Windham Field on the Scooba campus.

Playing their second of three home games slated for the month of October, head coach Buddy Stephens' EMCC Lions improved to 4-2 overall and 3-1 in MACCC North Division play following their thrilling 31-28 Homecoming victory over Northeast Mississippi this past Saturday afternoon. Thus far this season, both of EMCC's setbacks (Mississippi Gulf Coast & Itawamba) have been followed by a pair of victories. The Lions bounced back from a season-opening 41-21 road loss at now-No. 4 Gulf Coast with home wins over now-No. 13 Hinds (7-6) and now-No. 5 Northwest Mississippi (34-28). Most recently, EMCC's 34-24 road setback at Itawamba has since been followed by a 52-10 road victory at Coahoma and this past Saturday's 31-28 Homecoming triumph over Northeast.

EMCC defensive end Davier Bishop and kicker Hayden Houpt collected MACCC Player of the Week honors this week for their respective defensive and special teams performances during last Saturday's three-point win over Northeast, Bishop, from Akron, Ohio, had three tackles behind the line of scrimmage, including a pair of quarterback sacks, that totaled 14 yards lost to go along with a forced fumble. Houpt, a sophomore kicker out of Germantown High School, booted the game-winning, 23-yard field goal with time expiring on the game clock against NEMCC as well as having converted all four PAT kick attempts.

Averaging 209.3 passing yards and 190.3 rushing yards per game on the year as a team, East Mississippi's balanced offensive attack is directed by freshman quarterback Trey Irving III out of Gautier High School. The 2024 MHSAA Class 5A Mr. Football recipient has completed 80 percent (28-of-35) of his passes for 320 total passing yards and is averaging 9.5 rushing yards per attempt and 114 yards on the ground per game since making his collegiate debut in a starting role during Week 5 at Coahoma.

The Lions' top pass receiver on the year continues to be Ole Miss bounce-back Noreel White, who currently ranks second in the MACCC with 39 catches for 423 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Jacksonville State bounce-back Christian Thomas follows with 26 pass receptions for the season.

Leading the EMCC charge on the ground is sophomore running back Gavin Griffin, who has posted four 100-yard rushing efforts through six games this season to rank fourth nationally with an average of 104.7 rushing yards per contest. The 2023 MHSAA Class 1A Mr. Football recipient out of Velma Jackson High School leads NJCAA Division I football with 10 rushing touchdowns on the year, including at least one score in all six games plus three outings with multiple touchdowns.

Defensively for the Lions, freshman linebacker Ja'Cari Owens leads the team with 41 total tackles for the season. He is followed by defensive backs Donald Passmore III and Jathan Hatch with 34 and 33 stops, respectively. 

Guided by sixth-year head football coach and PRCC alum Seth Smith, the Wildcats of Pearl River Community College are 1-5 overall on the year and winless in four attempts in MACCC South Division play. PRCC's lone win thus far came at home against Itawamba (48-42) during Week 2. The Wildcats' setbacks have come against Northwest Mississippi (42-17), Southwest Mississippi (35-20), East Central (37-27), Mississippi Gulf Coast (42-28) and most recently at now-No. 10 Copiah-Lincoln (39-7) last Thursday in Wesson.

Pearl River's football coaching staff features second-year offensive coordinator David Boykin, who previously spent five seasons (2017-21) as EMCC's offensive coordinator that included back-to-back national and conference championships in 2017 and 2018.

Sporting an impressive career record of 152-30 (.835) with the Lions, Stephens previously spent seven seasons (2001-07) as an assistant coach at Pearl River before being hired as EMCC's head coach in December 2007. While Stephens was on staff at his junior college alma mater, the Wildcats posted a composite record of 60-12 (.833) that included a national championship in 2004 and four consecutive conference titles (2003-06). He was also a two-year offensive lineman at Pearl River before completing his collegiate playing career at Delta State University.

In his 18^th season as head coach of the Lions, EMCC's Stephens owns a 6-2 career record against Pearl River with identical 3-1 marks in games played in Scooba and Poplarville. A season ago in Poplarville, the home-standing Wildcats scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns during the game's final five minutes of play to overcome a 25-12 halftime deficit and pull out the narrow four-point victory over the visiting Lions. During the most recent EMCC-PRCC football meeting in Scooba (Sept. 5, 2019), fifth-ranked EMCC bounced back from a season-opening loss at Hinds to claim a decisive 49-15 home victory over the Wildcats.

Thursday's EMCC-PRCC contest will be broadcast live by WFCA-FM (107.9), out of French Camp, with Jason Crowder and Glen Beard slated to provide the play-by-play and color commentary, respectively. Jay Perry 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.