Northeast Scholar's Bowl finishes runner-up at Welcome Back Invitational
NEMCC sophomore Sheppard claims individual honors
BOONEVILLE, Miss. -- (11/05/2026) — Northeast Mississippi Community College's Scholar's Bowl team made the most of its home buzzer advantage on Friday, October 23
Northeast went undefeated through preliminary competition before finishing runner-up at the Northeast Mississippi Community College Welcome Back Invitational on the Booneville campus.
Northeast welcomed seven schools to the City of Hospitality for a day of academic competition that featured several contested matches, lopsided victories and a championship that required an extra match to decide.
Enterprise State Community College of Alabama claimed the tournament championship, but not before Northeast pushed the eventual champions to a tiebreaker after both teams completed the 10-round tournament with identical 8-2 records.
Enterprise State prevailed 380-230 in the deciding match, leaving Northeast with runner-up honors and one of the tournament's most impressive individual performances.
Snead State Community College's B team outperformed its A team to take third place with a 5-4 record, while Snead State's A team finished fourth at 4-5.
Northwest Shoals Community College took fifth with a 4-4 mark, followed by Jefferson State Community College in sixth at 3-5. Bishop State Community College rounded out the seven-team field at 0-8.
While Enterprise State took home the team championship, Northeast wasted little time establishing itself as a contender.
Northeast opened the tournament with a 250-145 victory over Snead State's B team before handing Northwest Shoals one of its most decisive losses of the day, a 330-30 setback.
Tiger competitors continued their offensive production against Jefferson State, holding the Alabama institution to fewer than 100 points before delivering one of the most lopsided results of the entire tournament.
Northeast shut out Bishop State 310-0 in its fourth match of the day, preventing the Alabama team from registering a point.
Snead State's A team provided a much tighter challenge in the fifth round, but Northeast answered with a 175-130 victory to keep its undefeated streak intact.
With one preliminary match remaining, Northeast faced an Enterprise State squad that would eventually claim the tournament title.
Instead of slowing down, Northeast turned in its highest-scoring performance of the preliminary rounds, overwhelming Enterprise State 390-75 and handing the eventual champions one of their two losses.
Northeast produced six victories in the preliminaries, including two decisions by at least 300 points, as the Tigers carried a perfect 6-0 record into the playoff portion of the tournament.
Leading Northeast's charge was sophomore Daniel Sheppard of New Albany, who proved to be among the quickest competitors on the buzzer throughout the day.
Sheppard heard 120 tossup questions during preliminary competition and answered 29 of them, accumulating an average of 64.17 points per 20 tossups heard.
That performance placed the Northeast sophomore at the top of the individual preliminary standings, ahead of Snead State B's Tyler Daniel, who averaged 61.67 points per 20 tossups.
Sheppard's 2.5-point advantage gave Northeast the tournament's leading individual scorer entering the playoffs, but he was far from the only Tiger making an impact.
Northeast placed four competitors among the top 18 individuals following preliminary competition.
Sophomore Lincoln Tyler of Rogersville, Ala., joined Sheppard among the tournament's leading scorers with an average of 40.83 points per 20 tossups heard.
Fellow sophomore Thaddeus McCurdy of Burnsville contributed an average of 17.50 points, while freshman Marley Garrett of Booneville added an 8.57-point average.
Emma Kate Beckham of Rienzi rounded out Northeast's five-member squad under the direction of Scholar's Bowl coaches Eric Smith and Dr. Carl DeWitt.
As competition moved into the playoff rounds, Sheppard continued to hold off challengers for the individual championship, although the gap between the tournament's top two scorers narrowed considerably.
After hearing the maximum 200 tossups across preliminary and playoff competition, Sheppard finished with an average of 57.50 points per 20 tossups heard.
Daniel remained close behind at 57.22, but Sheppard's 0.28-point advantage was enough to claim individual medalist honors for Northeast.
Tyler completed the tournament ranked seventh individually, while McCurdy and Garrett finished 18th and 19th, respectively.
Under long time coach Eric Smith, Northeast has established itself as a consistent participant in the National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT) national championship tournament.
Competition among Northeast's own Scholar's Bowl members has helped strengthen the program to the point that the college has qualified both an A team and a B team for national championship competition in the Chicago, Illinois, area.
Northeast's tournament was the only community college quiz tournament held during the third week of October, providing a regional competition opportunity during a period when other tournaments were taking place in Canada and states including Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Missouri.
--NEMCC--
Information about Northeast Mississippi Community College
Northeast Mississippi Community College is a leading educational institution that provides comprehensive academic, technical, and workforce training programs to empower students and promote lifelong learning. With a commitment to excellence, Northeast Mississippi Community College fosters a supportive environment that prepares individuals for success in their chosen fields.
For more information about Northeast Mississippi Community College, visit http://www.nemcc.edu.
- Booneville, MS
- Burnsville, MS
- New Albany, MS
- Rienzi, MS
- Rogersville, AL
Northeast Mississippi Community College
Michael H. Miller, Public Information Specialist, mhmiller@nemcc.eduShare this Story
Recent News
- Northeast Honors Institute opens applications for Spring 2027 semester
- Holiday ham raffle supports Cultural programming at Northeast
- NEMCC Theatre Department searching for its next class of "Puffs" during November auditions
- NEMCC Campus Country set for second Showtime of 2026-2027
- Tiger Tent or Treat returns to Northeast for final home football game
- NEMCC Medical Assisting Program to recognize healthcare professionals during national observance October 19-23
- NEMCC announces 2026 Alumni Hall of Fame Inductee Kenneth Paul "Kent" Geno, Jr., P.E.
- From $12 an hour to a Career: How Northeast Mississippi Community College and Northrop Grumman are Changing Lives
- NEMCC continues enrollment growth, welcomes more than 3,500 students for Fall 2026
- NEMCC's Robinson named 2026 Chime Workforce Scholar