SCOOBA, Miss. – The No. 1 East Mississippi Community College Lions pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 48-24 victory over the Indians on Thursday.
Trailing by 14, Dan Ellington (Olive Branch) found Chris Long (Nettleton) on an 8-yard pass to make it a 31-24 game in favor of the Lions (4-0, 2-0 MACJC North) early in the fourth quarter.
Long hauled in five passes for 50 yards and a touchdown.
The Lions answered less than a minute later with a 29-yard touchdown pass to push the lead back to 14 before adding a 39-yard field goal with 6:57 left. With the game no longer in doubt, EMCC took to the air with less than two minutes remaining to tack on a 17-yard scoring toss to pull away for the 48-24 victory.
ICC (1-3, 1-1 MACJC North) took a 7-0 lead at the 12:44 mark of the first quarter on a 34-yard yard pass to Jamel Thomas (Caledonia). EMCC answered with a 1-yard touchdown run by Tyrell Price to tie the game and took a 10-7 lead into the second quarter after a 38-yard field goal by Taylor Crabtree.
Thomas had six catches for 108 yards and a touchdown.
The Lions pushed their lead out to 10 on an 11-yard run by Price, but the Indians made it a 17-14 game at the break after a 5-yard touchdown run by Ellington.
Lindsey Scott Jr. scored on a 21-yard run to put the Lions up 24-14. Caleb Comer (Caledonia) connected on a 22-yard field goal to pull the Indians within seven, but a 59 yard run by Ja'Mori Mark gave the Lions a 31-17 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
VIDEO: Indians fall to No. 1 East Mississippi, 48-24
ICC finished the night with 625 yards of total offense, 131 coming on the ground.
Ellington passed for 494 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 57 yards and another score. Terry Williams (Southaven) had 197 yards on 16 catches.
Defensively, the Indians gave up 509 yards (310 rushing; 199 passing) on the night. Devan Hollins had a team-high 10 tackles while Quinshay Heard (Hamilton) had 9 tackles with a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Keshon Heard (Hamilton) had an interception with 3 tackles.
ICC had over 100 yards in penalties, East Mississippi was flagged twice for 25 yards.
The Indians will step out of division play to host Pearl River Community College (2-2, 1-1 MACJC South). The Wildcats lost 42-16 to Hinds Community College (3-0, 2-0 MACJC South).
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