BOONEVILLE, Miss. – Northeast Mississippi Community College's football team will revisit the place where its playoff run ended in the 2011 season as the Tigers make the trek to Perkinston on Thursday, September 27.
In the first regular season meeting between the two schools since 2007, Northeast will be looking to snap a two-game skid while Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College will be trying to get back on the winning track after its undefeated season was derailed last week at the hands of Jones County Junior College.
Northeast's last win came in a week two 30-21 victory against the Bobcats.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
During the 2011 Mississippi Association of Community/Junior Colleges (MACJC) semifinals, Northeast – the North Division runner-up – gave the host all it could handle and took the South Division champion to overtime before falling three points shy of the upset.
Prior to lastyear's 20-17 overtime win by the Bulldogs, Northeast and Mississippi Gulf Coast had met just one time in the postseason -- in 1983 when the Bulldogs knocked off a David Carnell-led Tiger team 42-0 en route to the state championship game.
In their lastregular season meeting, the Bulldogs were able to scratch out a 34-7 victory.
Mississippi Gulf Coast holds a 21-9-2 record in the overall series but Northeast's last win against Gulf Coast came in 1993 when the Tigers were able to walk away with a 21-20 decision and capped a six-game streak where Northeast went undefeated against the Bulldogs dating back to 1986. During the streak, the Tigers had five victories and a 24-24 tie against the Bulldogs in 1990.
Northeast andMississippi Gulf Coast are the rare game for the weekend. All other Mississippi Association of Community/Junior Colleges teams are in division action while the Tigers and the Bulldogs step out of division play for the Thursday night showdown.
In North Division play, East Mississippi and Coahoma face off in Clarksdale while Itawamba makes the trek to Senatobia on Thursday night. Holmes and Mississippi Delta square off on Saturday, September 29 in Goodman.
With Mississippi Gulf Coast out of division play, the South Division sees Jones County and Copiah-Lincoln along with Pearl River and Southwest take the field on Thursday while Hinds and East Central play on Saturday.
Northeast (1-3) enters the matchup coming off a good defensive showing against Northwest Mississippi on Thursday, September 20.
In the game, Northeast's defense held the high-powered Northwest offense to just 193 yards of total offense and limited the rangers to just 58 yards rushing.
Travis Macon's Tiger defense was able to stop the Rangers for seven tackles for loss in the game – including a pair of sacks by Falkner's Rezean Prather.
Northeast will also be looking to keep a special teams mark in tack – during their four games of the year, the Tigers have only allowed four punt returns for a total of three yards.
Punter Jonathan Harrison did his job during the Northwest game and pinned the Ranger deep on a pair of occasions including a 57-yard punt, which was downed at the Ranger 1 with 2:52 left in the first half.
Harrison averaged 47 yards per kick on the night and is sixth in the nation with a 39.1 yards per punt average on his 16 boots on the year. Of Harrison's 16 punts on the year with five landing inside the 20, four touchbacks and forced one fair catch.
As with all Tiger football games, fans can hear Northeast Tiger football live by tuning into WNAU AM 1470 out of New Albany but for those that cannot pick up the broadcast, WNAU AM 1470 also offers live streaming by going to http://www.wnau1470.com and clicking on the "Streaming" button after kickoff. A link to the live Internet stream is also available on the Tigers new athletic website at http://www.nemccathletics.com.
Fans can also visit the Tigers in-game Daktronics stats link for live play-by-play action http://www.dakstats.com/WebSync/Pages/Team/TeamPage.aspx?association=14&sg=MFB&sea=JUCMFB_2012&team=16061 and clicking on the ((W)) beside the correct game on the schedule.