No 6 EMCC hosts Co-Lin in season opener
The preseason sixth-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College will kick off the 2022 football season Thursday evening (Sept. 1) by playing host to the Wolves of Copiah-Lincoln Community College. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at EMCC’s Sullivan-Wind- ham Field on the Scooba campus.
Thursday’s EMCC season opener against Co-Lin will be broad- cast 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. Chris Coleman is set to do the sideline reporting.
The game’s live-streamed audio will also be carried by SuperTalk Mississippi (WZKR-FM 103.3), out of Meridian, as well as through EMCC’s campus radio station, WGTC-FM (92.7), originating from the Golden Triangle campus in Mayhew. In addition, EMCC’s weekly live video- streamed football broadcasts will be available in HD at emcclive.com. Alternate audio streams of the radio broadcasts are also available at wfca.fm.
The Lions own a 6-3 series advantage (3-1 at Scooba & 3-2 at Wes- son) over CoLin dating back to the 2008 season under the direction of 15th-year EMCC head football coach Buddy Stephens. The two most recent head-to-head gridiron meetings have both resulted in 31-7 victories by the Lions. Last year’s contest was played in Wes- son during Week 8 of the regular season, while the previous meeting was held in Scooba during the 2018 conference semifinals. EMCC went on to win the school’s seventh conference championship and ultimately claim a fifth NJCAA title that year.
A season ago (Oct. 21, 2021) during the Lions’ 31-7 road win over Co-Lin at H.L. Stone Stadium, EMCC was directed by current Mississippi Valley State quarterback Jamari Jones, who threw for 170 yards and two touchdowns on 18-of-29 passing and also rushed for 65 yards on 13 attempts against the Wolves.
The Co-Lin Wolves are guided by 19th-year head coach Glenn Davis, who owns the longest consecutive tenure of any current MACCC football coach and enters the 2022 season ranked eighth among the NJCAA’s active head football coaches with 94 career victories.
Currently sitting one national title away from matching Butler (KS) and Northeastern Okla- homa A&M for the all-time NJCAA football record of six NJCAA Championships apiece, the five-time national champion EMCC Lions are looking to rebound from last year’s season opening 42-41 overtime home setback to Hinds in the MACCC Semifi- nals. After posting the program’s fifth unbeaten regular-season football slate since 2011 and 10th division title in 14 years, EMCC completed the 2021 campaign with a 9-1 overall record and a No. 6 season-ending NJCAA Division I ranking.