SCOOBA — The “Buddy Stephens rule” was inevitable. After No. 1 East Mississippi Community College extended its lead beyond 38 points, the game clock runs continuously. And that happened midway through the third quarter after a pair of Deon McIntosh rushing scores made the lead 40-0. 

EMCC improved to 7-0 on the season after defeating the Coahoma Community College Tigers by a final score of 47-0.

The win gave East Mississippi its ninth MACJC North Division title in 11 years and extended its home winning streak to 32 games. In fact, EMCC is 41-1 since moving into Sullivan-Windham Field before the 2011 season. Head coach Buddy Stephens was unavailable for comment following the game.

In the first quarter, a running into the punter penalty enabled Coahoma to punt again, but this time it faked the punt and passed for 11 yards. The drive ended four plays later with a turnover on downs.

EMCC took just more than 3 minutes and 11 plays to go up 7-0 via a Messiah deWeaver pass to Kalem Reddix from the 3-yard line. The drive started on the EMCC 30-yard line and included 19 yards from Deon McIntosh on the ground. The sophomore running back finished with 146 yards and two touchdowns on 17 rushes. He averaged 8.6 yards per carry. As a team, EMCC rushed 30 times for 234 yards and three scores.

Coahoma continued with its clock controlling game plan to run right at the Lions early but found itself in several third and longs, forcing them to go to the pass, where they struggled for yards after catch. For the game, the Tigers were 5 of 6 for just 33 yards through the air.

The EMCC defense was able to hold the 0-7 Tigers to an abysmal 74 yards on 46 carries with an average of 1.6 yards per rush. Total offensive yards for the Tigers was less than 100.

After a three-and-out for the Tigers, Kemper County product D.J. Clayton took a punt 47 yards up the sideline for the score, and the Lions led 14-0 at the 11:38 mark in the second quarter. The return was the sophomore wide receiver’s first touchdown of the year.

“This is my second year returning kicks, so I felt real comfortable back there,” said Clayton, who also scored the Lions’ final touchdown of the game on a 16-yard reception in the fourth quarter. “I saw a lane open up on the right side of the field and turned it on.”

An intentional safety by Coahoma and a 34-yard kick after gave the Lions a 16-0 lead that gave kicker Josh Smith the shot at a 47-yard field goal, and the lead grew to 19-0. DeWeaver scored a touchdown on a 29-yard carry to give EMCC a 26-0 lead at the half.

The Lions will travel to Booneville to close out the season against Northeast Mississippi next week before the playoffs begin with an MACJC semi-final game in Scooba. The opponent has not been decided.