Lions ready for homecoming atmosphere

East Mississippi head coach Buddy Stephens has seen the kind of atmosphere surrounding the El Toro Bowl Presented by Time Warner Cable before.

Usually it's in a homecoming game, not a national championship game.

But Stephens said the No. 2 Lions are ready for Saturday's 2:30 p.m. game at Veterans Memorial Stadium against No. 1 Arizona Western to determine a champion.

“We never played a bowl game on someone's home field,” Stephens said. “That's not a distraction, it just makes our guys have to concentrate more. But our guys stay loose. I've said this from Day 1 — we have a bunch of special community college kids.”

The game is a rematch of the 2009 Mississippi Bowl, a 27-24 win for the Lions. That time, it was the Matadors who had to do the traveling. This time, it's the Lions who hopped on a plane and arrived in Yuma at around noon Thursday. Of course, the difference between 2009 and 2011 is the Mississippi Bowl was not for a national title.

“We played them in ‘09, and I think they are a better football team overall,” Stephens said. “This is like a homecoming game from them. They're inducting the ‘72 team in the school national hall of fame, a lot of people here locally, and it's a home game for them. We had to travel 1,700 miles and that's tough. Any time you play for a national championship you have to take what's given to you.”

The Lions are led by quarterback Bo Wallace, who had thrown for 4,118 yards and 46 touchdowns, both by far tops in the NJCAA.

Wallace said he agreed with his coach about the pomp and circumstance around the game, but said the Lions could handle it.

“We're just approaching it just like any other game,” Wallace said. “We know it's a national championship game, we know there's a lot on the line. But once the ball is kicked off, it's football. We're excited to be here to play.”

Defensive lineman Damien Jacobs said he's excited to get on the field and show exactly how focused EMCC is.

“We've been in hostile environments before,” Jacobs said. “We've been in games like this. We can handle it pretty well, and once the ball is kicked off we'll play really well.”

Jacobs also said he's looking forward to taking on the challenge of stopping AWC running back Damien Williams, who led the nation in rushing.

“Their offense looks really good,” Wallace said. “They're real physical, real big and they come with it. They like to pound the ball, so if we can stop the run game we'll be OK.”

Wallace said he expects a good game come Saturday.

“They have a lot of depth, they have a lot more out-of-staters than we get,” Wallace said. “They run to the football really well and are a real athletic group. We have good players to counteract their good players and it will be a really fun game.”