SCOOBA — Calling for a fake punt on your own 24 yard line midway through the third quarter backfired on Holmes Community College. The play ran for a loss of four yards and No. 1 East Mississippi Community College took over on the 15 and only one play to score and increase its lead to 42-21. The Lions (7-0, 4-0) would add two more scores in the fourth and win their homecoming game 56-21.

The near-capacity crowd played witness to a new face in the quarterback system head coach Buddy Stephens said was working for his high-powered offense and gives them the confidence they need to compete for another National Championship.

“TyQuan Ulmer is going to be a fixture for us, and he is a really good player,” Stephens said. “We have a lot of things in our package for him and he will give us the edge we need to win another national championship.”

Quarterback Vijay Miller was injured against East Central Community College and is out for the season.

Ulmer was responsible for four touchdowns, three rushing and one on a 16-yard pass to Adrian Miller. He finished with 58 yards rushing and was 2-for-2 passing the ball for 31 yards.

Ulmer shared his reps with starting quarterback Messiah deWeaver, who completed 18 of 22 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns. As a team, the Lions posted 258 yards passing and 201 yards rushing. Deon McIntosh led all rushers with 109 yards on just 14 carries. His average of 7.6 yards per rush opens up the passing lanes as teams switch to one on one coverage and stack the box.

Special teams was special, according to Stephens.

“In order for our guys to believe in what we are doing, they have to create some success, Stephens said. They did that this afternoon. Teams that have great special teams are really good overall. It’s a sign of our coaches doing a great job.”

After taking a 28-14 lead into halftime, the Lions made some adjustments on defense and were able to give the offense a chance to pull away.  The defense created five fumbles, a blocked punt and two turnovers on downs.

“We fixed some alignment issues and we talked better in the second half,” Stephens said. “We were able to get our guys moving into position in order to have a chance to make a play.”

Eriq Kitchen had 10 tackles including two sacks and two for a loss to lead the defensive front that allowed just 30 yards passing. Holmes was able to be affective on the ground, rushing for 256 on 58 carries, but it wasn’t enough.

EMCC will have a chance to secure a North Division Championship on Thursday when Coahoma visits Scooba. Stephens said he hopes his guys are up to the challenge because of the short week.

“We need to get some guys healthy and be focused going into the Coahoma game,” he said.