SCOOBA — As explosive as the East Mississippi offense was on the field in its 48-24 homecoming win over Itawamba, the fireworks came on the sidelines.

With 12:58 left in the fourth quarter the sideline referee and East Mississippi coach Buddy Stephens got into a heated altercation that lasted for several minutes.

The referee reportedly threw a punch at Stephens, but missed him and then later threw a clipboard at Stephens.

The referee and Stephens both agreed to leave the field. There were no ejections in the incident. Stephens elected to coach from the press box.

“It was a disagreement between me and the referee. I handled it wrong and he did too and we will move on,” Stephens said. “We lost composure and that is my responsibility. I will take blame for it. They just told me to leave so we can get the game moving forward.”

East Mississippi did have two players ejected, including former Southeast Lauderdale standout Damion Willis.

“We just lost our composure as a team and that cannot happen,” Stephens said. “I can’t throw rocks and stones. You can be intense, but you have to know when to stop yourself.”

As for the game, Wyatt Roberts was 24 of 35 for 284 yards with three touchdowns.

He connected on a 13-yard pass to Allenzae Staggers with 14:03 left in the first quarter that gave the sixth-ranked Lions a 7-0 lead.

He also had a 37-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Wright with 1 second left before halftime that gave EMCC a 24-0 lead.

His last came on a 55-yard pass to Isaiah Jonesin the third quarter.

“I feel like I had a pretty good first half, but missed some opportunities when we got into the red zone,” Roberts said. “We looked good at times and had some lulls, but we will watch film and correct.”

Isaiah Wright had 15 carries and 100 yards for East Mississippi (4-1, 2-0 MACJC North).

Kwadra Griggs had three touchdown passes to lead Itawamba (2-3, 1-2).