By By Jeff Byrd / staff writer
Sept. 18, 2002
SCOOBA The East Mississippi Community College Lions make their debut in front of the home fans at Sullivan-Windham Field Thursday night when unbeaten Northeast Mississippi visits Scooba.
The same two teams met here about this time in Scooba last year. It was a 14-14 game at the half. Then Northeast got hot, scoring 27 points in the second half and went on to post the 41-14 victory.
Lions head coach Tom Goode is hoping this year's team can avoid the second-half fate of last season's match-up. EMCC will come in with some confidence after rallying to beat Gulf Coast 10-7 in the final 20 seconds.
The Lions, 1-1, hurt themselves with offensive penalties against Gulf Coast.
East Mississippi finished with nearly 370 yards in total offense but they needed quarterback Daniel Spinks' 15-yard toss to Maurice Cunningham in the waning seconds to gain the win. EMCC lost its opener at defending champion Jones CC 17-7.
Spinks, the freshman quarterback from Meridian, leads the Lions offense. He is 23-of-51 for 279 yards and two touchdowns. The top target is freshman Niko Edwards who has seven receptions for 85 yards.
Running back Marvin Sommerville has 146 yards rushing off 33 carries.
Northeast comes in with a 2-0 record but Bobby Hall's team ranks dead last in the MACJC Region 23 offensive stats. The Tigers have just 228 yards in two games for a paltry average of 114 yards.
Yet Northeast has won, beating Pearl River 13-6 and East Central 14-7 behind the league's top defense. The Tigers are allowing only 106 yards per game including just 76 yards rushing in two games.
Hall agrees.
Northeast punter Brandon Roberson is one of the league's best. He was named the Region's Special Teams player of the week.
Goode likes how his defense has been playing. The unit ranks fifth in total defense at 202.5 yards per game.
The Lions defense is keyed by sophomore linebackers Ken Hollis, Joe White and Renuel Green. Hollis is second in the region in tackles with 21 solos and two assists. Green has 12 tackles and has recovered two fumbles.
Another plus for the Lions has been freshman kicker Will Mosley out of West Lauderdale High School. Mosley made a 31-yard field goal against Gulf Coast and has five points on the year.