After weeks of buildup, Matadors, Lions meet in El Toro Bowl for title

One is from the East; one is from the West.

One likes to pass; one likes to run.

One has homegrown players on its roster; one goes out of state for its talent.

Whatever differences there are between No. 1 Arizona Western and No. 2 East Mississippi, they have one thing in common: Both are looking to become a national champion.

The Matadors and Lions face off in the El Toro Bowl Presented by Time Warner Cable at 2:30 p.m. today at Veterans Memorial Stadium with an NJCAA National Championship on the line. Both teams went through the regular season 11-0.

The two teams met in the 2009 Mississippi Bowl, the first bowl game at their respective schools for both EMCC head coach Buddy Stephens and AWC head coach Tom Minnick. The Lions won 27-24.

In that game, the Matadors fell behind early — something they did last year in the Heart of Texas Bowl against Blinn.

“We have to come out early and play well,” Minnick said. “We told them the same thing last year, and we were down 14-0 before we even had the ball. We get the ball in our hands and we have to make sure we do something. We haven't been down this year, but this is the best team we've played.”

As they've done all year, the Matadors will hitch their offense to Damien Williams, who led the nation in rushing with 1,786 yards and 24 touchdowns. But should they fall behind, Minnick said he has confidence in a receiving corps that includes Josh Ford, Shawn Kitchens and D.J. Johnson, all of whom have led the Matadors in receiving at least once.

“We have kids who can play from behind. Did we have them the last two years? Yeah, but this year is even better because our receivers are even better,” Minnick said. “We have some playmakers with Damien, D.J., Shawn, Josh all out there. We got kids who can make plays, and our defense makes plays.”

It's not just the receiving corps of the Matadors loaded with talent. Both coaches said the caliber of players in this game is as good as they've ever seen.

“For us, this is one of the more talented teams we've seen,” Stephens said. “I compare it to the '04 team at Pearl River that won a national championship. There were four guys in the NFL off that team. It's very similar. Butler, who we played, had a lot of guys in the NFL. I think it's the same thing here.”

The talent for the Lions starts under center with quarterback Bo Wallace, who led the nation with a NJCAA-record 4,118 yards and 46 touchdowns. He completed 67 percent of his passes and threw just 13 interceptions. He has a wide array of targets as well — Lacoltan Bester had 15 touchdown catches this year and 980 receiving yards. Rodney Davis was a serious deep threat for the Lions, averaging 19.4 yards per catch and hauling in nine TDs. Rodriguez Moore didn't only make 40 catches this year, he ran for 1,196 yards.

And those are just the offensive players. The AWC linebacker corps has been a force all season, led by converted defensive back Chris Young. Joined by Zach Quinnes and Steffon Martin, the trio scored multiple times this year off interceptions and fumble returns — including six for Young.

For the Lions, it's been their defensive line that has wreaked havoc on opposing teams. Denico Autry has eight sacks this year and is the team's second leading tackler with 76.

“Junior college football is the best-kept secret around,” Minnick said. “People don't realize the talent on the field. You go Friday night and watch one kid play pretty good. But when you go to a junior college football game, there's a ton of kids out there who can go Division I and play. Or two or three guys who can go to the NFL after that. It's great football and guys don't realize what kind of football it really is.”

Stephens said he is in awe of the talent Minnick has assembled.

“Tom has 60-whatever guys not from Arizona, and they're all good,” Stephens said. “One of the things we talked about as a staff is that if you put together that many good athletes, they're going to be a good football team.

“But the good thing about it is they can only put 11 on the field at the same time. But they've got a lot of players you're going to see on Saturday big time. They already have at Alabama (2010 defensive tackle Jesse Williams) and all the other places. We have some guys like that, too.”

Minnick responded to that with a smile.

“Buddy talks about us getting a lot of out-of-state kids and everything like that, but our league doesn't have an out-of-state limit,” Minnick said. “That's great for us. We're in the middle of the desert, there's nothing here. We're right next to Mexico where the team sport is soccer. It's hard for us to get kids here unless you recruit out of state.

“But Mississippi is Down South. They live, breathe ... football. That's a great place to be for football. ... I played every community college conference in bowl games between LaPage, Joliet and Arizona Western. The best JC football is in Mississippi. So I don't want to hear about the out-of-states because they don't need them at all.”

So what is Stephens' plan to stop all that talent?

“I was talking to the guys earlier and they're going to have a flyover, a big cannon at the game and a guy parachute the ball in. We're going to need those guys to help stop Damien.”