Published: November 07, 2009 01:09 am      

EMCC reels in state, region honors

Mackey repeats as Region 23 MVP

SCOOBA – Readying for their school-first state championship game appearance, several members of East Mississippi’s North Division championship team have been accorded 2009 NJCAA All-Region 23 and MACJC All-North State football honors.

Highlighted by preseason NJCAA All-America quarterback Randall Mackey repeating as the NJCAA’s Region 23 Most Valuable Player, a total of 14 EMCC players garnered either All-Region 23 or All-North State accolades from a collective vote of the state’s head junior college football coaches.

  Along with EMCC’s Mackey collecting a second straight Region 23 MVP award, sophomore offensive tackle Quartney Cox also repeated as an NJCAA All-Region 23 performer, as well as being tabbed by the state’s head coaches as the MVP among the North Division’s offensive linemen. This year, the veteran tandem has been joined on the all-region squad by sophomore wide receiver Lance Lewis and freshman return specialist British Footman. 

  A sophomore from Port Sulphur, La., Mackey presently leads the NJCAA in pass completion percentage (174-of-258 for 67.4%) for the season, along with ranking third nationally in passing yards per game (266.4), tied for fourth with 22 touchdown passes, and third in total offense with an average of 311.4 yards per contest. The 6-foot, 185-pound signal-caller has thrown for 5,216 yards and 46 touchdowns during his two-year EMCC career.

  One of nine different Lion players with at least 14 receptions on the year, Lewis currently ranks sixth nationally with 737 receiving yards and is tied for third with 11 touchdown receptions. 

  Footman, a freshman speedster, was named to this year’s NJCAA All-Region 23 contingent as a kick return specialist after averaging 15.3 yards per punt return in 2009, including two touchdowns, as well as 30.6 yards per kickoff return.

  Defensively, EMCC put preseason NJCAA All-Americans Claude Davis and Alvin Ellis on this year’s MACJC All-North State First Team. Davis has registered a team-high 10.5 sacks and 10 other tackles for loss on the year. Ellis leads all EMCC tacklers with 88 total stops as a repeat first-team all-state selection at linebacker.

  EMCC also had a total of eight players — four on offense and four on defense — earn second-team status on the MACJC’s 2009 All-North State squad. Offensively, sophomore wide receivers Bill Franks and Stephon Johnson rank first and third on the EMCC team with 40 and 31 catches, respectively. Sophomore running back Pat Shed garnered second-team honors for the second straight year in leading the Lions in rushing again this season (765 yards in 2009 and 772 in 2008). Freshman center Billy Autrey was also voted to the North’s second team.

  On the other side of the ball, sophomore defensive end Jermayne Lett was named to the North’s second-team unit after ranking second on the EMCC club with 80 total tackles, including 9.5 sacks and 18 other tackles for loss. Freshman linebacker Dujuan Brown was joined on the second team by Lion defensive backs Anthony Hines and Izauea Lanier who top East Mississippi with six and three interceptions, respectively, on the year.