MERIDIAN —
The winning streak is gone and so are the hopes for a national championship repeat.
Itawamba Community College kicked a field goal with 16 seconds left Saturday at Fulton’s Eaton Field to stun No. 3 East Mississippi Community College 24-23.
The Lions, who saw their 20-game winning streak come to an end, still head into the MACJC state playoffs as the top seed from the North Division and host Copiah-Lincoln at 2 p.m. Saturday at Sullivan-Windham Field in Scooba. EMCC is 8-1 and 5-1 in the North, which it won for the fourth time in five seasons.
And while the Lions can still win their second straight state championship — South champion Mississippi Gulf Coast hosts Northwest Mississippi in the other semifinal Saturday with the state title to follow No. 10 — and third in four years, there won’t be another national title coming to EMCC, which was hoping a second straight undefeated season would lead to passing either top-ranked Iowa Western or No. 2 Butler (Kan.) Community College.
But that ended due to a sluggish start and the late kick by the Indians, who finish 6-3 and 4-2 in the North.
Itawamba, which was holding its homecoming, treated the crowd with a fast start. Griff Loftis hit Rashad Pargo on a 3-yard scoring toss at the 11:44 mark of the first quarter to give the Indians a 7-0 lead.
It stayed that way until 4:54 left in the first half when Loftis hit Ronald Carswell for a touchdown and ICC had a 14-0 lead.
However, EMCC responded. Sophomore running back Rodriguez Moore scored from 5 yards out with 3:06 left in the half to pull the Lions within 14-7. Moore again found paydirt to pull EMCC even midway through the third quarter when he hauled in a 16-yard pass from Quez Johnson.
Almost exactly a quarter later, EMCC took its first lead as Morgan Rhodes hit a 31-yard field goal with 8:34 remaining.
The Indians, though, were not finished. Tobias Loftin scored from 21 yards out with 6:49 remaining and ICC went back ahead 21-17.
In the see-saw fourth quarter, EMCC again moved ahead as Johnson — who rushed for 124 yards on 33 carries, while completing 25 of 44 passes for 225 yards, but also threw three first-half interceptions — scored on a 1-yard run with 2:37 to go. However, a holding penalty on the extra point led to a second kick and Rhodes pushed it wide left, making EMCC’s lead only 23-21.
The Indians then moved into field goal range and Tyler Jackson hit a career-long 43-yarder with 16 seconds left to stun EMCC.
Sports
EMCC’s streak snapped, title hopes dashed by Itawamba
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(PHOTOS) Enterprise in the Class 2A State Championship
Slideshow of Enterprise in the Class 2A State Championship fast pitch series.
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(PHOTOS) Newton County wins Class 4A
Slideshow of Newton County in the Class 4A State Championship fast pitch series.
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(PHOTOS) Neshoba wins Class 5A
Slideshow of Neshoba Central in the Class 5A State Championship fast pitch series.
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Newton County beats Houston 10-0 to claim 7th fast-pitch championshi
Players from Newton County’s dugout barely made it to the foul line before a celebratory dogpile ensued here Saturday. Indeed, winning never gets old.
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Enterprise falls twice to East Webster
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Neshoba Central shuts out East Central 8-0
Neshoba Central’s last two rounds of the state softball playoffs involved grueling series wins over Lake Cormorant and New Hope. And while no one knows what today holds in the Class 5A State Championship Series, the Lady Rockets zipped through East Central like a hot knife through butter in Ridgeland Friday night.
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Enterprise tops East Webster 6-3
Just one more win.
That's how far away the Enterprise Lady Bulldogs are from closing out an amazing season. After beginning the year 4-8, EHS has won 15 of their last 19 games, including Friday afternoon's 6-3 win over East Webster in the MHSAA Class 2A Fast-Pitch Softball Championships. - More Sports Headlines
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