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September 26, 2008

Anonymous The Meridian Star Fri Sep 26, 2008, 09:16 AM CDT

By Rocky Higginbotham

sports editor

SCOOBA — Everything associated with East Mississippi Community College's football program is seemingly new, from the interlocking logo at midfield to uniforms to the checkerboard endzones.

But the most important aspect a new coaching staff seems to have installed is a winning attitude.

EMCC fought through a subpar performance in its first home game in nearly a month Thursday night, toppling visiting Northwest Mississippi 27-19 in an MACJC North Division battle here at Sullivan-Windham Memorial Field.

"That was just about the ugliest thing I've seen,' first-year EMCC head coach Buddy Stephens said of his team's perfomance — which was sparkling at times and lackluster at others. "I can't really explain it. We had a good week of practice and we got after it real well. But we didn't play with a lot of emotion tonight and that shouldn't happen against a Northwest."

Ugliness aside, the Lions scored three unanswered touchdowns to take a 20-6 halftime lead, then made it stand up to improve to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the North. Across the way, first-year head man Ricky Woods and Northwest's Rangers dropped to 2-3 and 1-1.

"To not play our best and still win says a lot about our talent and a lot about our kids and where we are headed with this program," Stephens said. "We got this one and that's big."

Just a couple of days after he was named the national player of the week, freshman quarterback Randall Mackey misfired early for the Lions — overthrowing his receiver five times in an 0-for-6 start.

"He could have thrown it through a cinder-block wall tonight," Stephens joked of Mackey. "I think Randall may have needed to run a lap around the field before the game to settle down. He just threw the ball entirely too hard tonight."

Northwest got on the board first on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Casey Weston to Marquise Green. A penalty-shortened try at a two-point conversion attempt failed.

EMCC answered with a 54-yard, eight-play scoring drive capped when Pat Shed crashed in from 2 yards out. The kick was blocked, leaving it a 6-6 game.

Later in the first quarter, EMCC took possession at its own 1-yard line — and two plays later — Mackey was injured on a third-down scramble of 16 yards which got the Lions a little breathing room.

In came backup quarterback Perry Trammell, who calmly connected on 6-of-8 passes for 74 yards on a scoring drive. That 14-play, 99-yard drive was capped by Trammell's 11-yard touchdown pass to Mike Outlaw — and Phillip Dimino's kick made it 13-6 Lions.

"Randall wasn't his sharpest," Stephens said. "But kudos to Perry Trammell. He came in and led us down the field ... that's a huge tribute to him and the way he prepares himself in practice every week."

Mackey re-entered on the next drive, and just before the half, engineered a six-play, 83-yard scoring march. He connected with former Meridian High School standout Montrez Mosley on a 36-yard completion to put the Lions in the red zone — and two plays later, Shed ran it in from 2 yards out for his second score. Dimino's kick gave EMCC a 20-6 lead.

It stayed that way until Northwest put together a 12-play scoring march which ended early in the fourth quarter. Weston snuck it in from a yard out, making it a 20-13 game.

EMCC answered with an 8-yard scoring strike from Mackey to Bonner, pushing the lead back to two scores at 27-13 with 4:29 remaining.

Northwest got its final points when Weston and Green hooked up again, this time on a 41-yard strike with 2:28 remaining. The point-after kick hit the upright, leaving it a 27-19 game.

After Bonner came up with an onsides kick, Shed fought his way to a first down on an impressive 21-yard run which helped the Lions run out the clock.

Shed finished with 109 yards rushing on 23 attempts, while Mackey scrambled 11 times for 53 yards. He was 13-of-31 passing for 221 yards, with Outlaw catching six passes for 92 yards and Mosley hauling in five balls for 99 yards.

The teams combined for 850 yards of total offense and 49 first downs, with the Rangers adding 200 yards on the ground. That included a negative-(-34) yards from Weston, who was sacked eight times and harassed all night in a 21-of-39 showing.

"We got pressure on the quarterback and we had to," Stephens said. "He's a good quarterback and you can't let him stand back there and have time to throw the football.

"That's a very good Northwest team with lots of athletes and they're well-coached," Stephens said. "It's a big win to beat this bunch, especially on a night when we didn't play our best."

The Lions have another North Division matchup next week, as EMCC hosts upstart Coahoma for homecoming on Oct. 4.

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