No. 9 EMCC has five-game win streak halted with 45-24 loss to No. 7 Gulf Coast in MACCC semis

SCOOBA – Ninth-ranked East Mississippi Community College's 2025 football season came to a close with a 45-24 home setback to No. 7 Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College during Saturday afternoon's MACCC semifinals contest played at Sullivan-Windham Field on the Scooba campus.

After leading, 17-14, following a back-and-forth first half of play, the home-standing Lions were outscored, 31-7, in the second half on the way to dropping the 21-point decision to the visiting Bulldogs. Making their 15th conference playoff appearance under the guidance of 18^th-year head football coach Buddy Stephens, the Lions finished the season with a 7-3 overall record after claiming a share of their 12^th MACCC North Division title.

The top-seeded Lions from the MACCC's North Division got on the scoreboard first by capping a 17-play, 63-yard drive that took 7:39 off the game clock with Hayden Houpt's 20-yard field goal at the 7:13 mark.

The Bulldogs answered on their first offensive possession of the game by marching 58 yards on eight plays to take a 7-3 lead on Landon Varnes' 7-yard touchdown toss to Antwaan Mays with 3:10 left in the opening quarter.

The two teams traded touchdowns to begin the second-quarter scoring, starting with reigning MACCC Offensive Player of the Week Trey Irving III's 33-yard scoring pass to Ole Miss bounce-back receiver Noreel White. The nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive overlapped quarters and put EMCC back on top, 10-7, two minutes into the second quarter.

Following an exchange of turnovers, both teams put together lengthy scoring drives to finish out the first-half scoring. Using up seven minutes of the game clock, Gulf Coast's 15-play, 90-yard drive culminated with Varnes' 14-yard scoring pass to Tyler Henderson that gave the visitors a brief 14-10 lead with 2:46 left in the first half. That gave the Lions just enough time to advance the ball 65 yards on 10 plays while reclaiming the lead (17-14) on Gavin Griffin's 1-yard scoring burst heading into intermission.

The momentum of the game swung in favor of the Bulldogs during the opening six minutes of the second half. After opening the third quarter with a six-play, 58-yard drive that produced a 26-yard scoring connection between Varnes and Mays to put MGCCC on top (21-17) for good at the 12:44 mark, the visitors then capitalized on a key special teams play to go up by two scores. Houpt's 24-yard field goal attempt was blocked and returned to the Lions' 1-yard line. Alan Woods then punched it in from a yard out to give the visitors a 28-17 advantage with 8:44 left in the quarter.

To their credit, the Lions responded on their next possession with a seven-play, 75-yard scoring drive that was extended via a clutch fourth-down, 31-yard pass completion from Irving to Kam Triplett down to Gulf Coast's 5-yard line. Griffin delivered from there on the next play for his second score of the game. His NJCAA-leading 22^nd rushing touchdown of the season cut EMCC's deficit to just four points (28-24).

It subsequently took the visitors only two plays and 40 seconds to again make it a two-possession game when Varnes hit Henderson on a 57-yard scoring strike to extend the Bulldogs' lead to 35-24 with 5:40 remaining in the quarter.

Rebounding from a missed opportunity to score late in the third quarter after Houpt misfired on a 25-yard field goal attempt, the Lions showed some initial signs of mounting a possible comeback attempt as the fourth quarter began. EMCC freshman defensive back Antonio O'Neal Jr. intercepted his third pass in two weeks at the goal line to temporarily halt the Bulldogs from building upon their 11-point lead.

That's when the Bulldogs' vaunted defensive unit stepped up by not allowing the Lions to reach the red zone during the entire fourth quarter, including forcing consecutive three-and-outs during EMCC's first two offensive possessions of the quarter.

Meanwhile, Gulf Coast's efficient offense added a 26-yard field goal by Aiden Guinn at the 4:27 mark to stretch the lead to two touchdowns (38-24). After EMCC's 10-play drive was stymied at the MGCCC 41-yard line, the Bulldogs' Elijah Jones-Crosby busted up the middle for a 59-yard touchdown run with under a minute left to play to account for the game's final margin.

Statistically, the Lions and Bulldogs matched up fairly evenly with Gulf Coast owning a slight 477-428 advantage in total offense yards, though EMCC ran 19 more offensive plays. Both teams had 25 first downs. With a pair of runners going over the century mark in rushing yards (Woods—109 & Jones-Crosby—104) for the game, the Bulldogs outgained the Lions, 216-161, on the ground.

Individually for EMCC, Irving completed 21-of-38 passes for 267 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for a team-high 82 yards in 19 attempts. Griffin, a two-time NJCAA and MACCC Offensive Player of the Week this season, followed with 73 rushing yards and his pair of scores in 20 carries against MGCCC to complete his sophomore campaign with 1,168 rushing yards to rank third-best on EMCC's single-season list during the Stephens coaching era. Griffin's NJCAA-best 22 rushing touchdowns on the year rank second on the Lions' single-season chart dating back to 2008.