Thirteen proved to be an unlucky number for Pearl River Community College on Saturday.

Defending National JuCo champion East Mississippi knocked off the visiting Wildcats 35-15 to open the football season. It was the 13th straight win for the Lions, who are ranked as the top juco team in the nation.

PRCC fell for the third straight time to the Lions, who are coached by former Wildcat player Buddy Stephens.

The game marked the beginning of the Dylan Favre era at PRCC, but it wasn’t a stellar performance by the Mississippi State transfer and nephew of former NFL great Brett Favre.

Although he did throw a pair of touchdown passes, Favre also threw three interception and lost a fumble as the Wildcats committed five turnovers in the loss.

“Way too many mistakes,” veteran PRCC head coach Tim Hatten  said. “We would have trouble beating a lot of teams with that many turnovers, much less the number one team in the nation. We left too many points on the field in the first half.”

Favre did complete 11 straight passes in the first half at one point, including a 23-yard scoring strike to Sean Jones and a 29-yard touchdown toss to Darius Holder that gave PRCC a 15-14 lead late in the second quarter.

However, EMCC quarterback Jacquez Johnson quickly erased that brief lead as he hooked up with former South Panola star and Ole Miss transfer Nick Brassell on a 39-yard scoring pass that gave the Lions the lead for good with two minutes to play before intermission.

Johnson also hit Corey Smith on a 60-yard scoring strike in the first quarter that gave EMCC a 14-9 lead at that point. He added another scoring pass to Smith mid-way through the furth period that made it 28-15.

The game was delayed 45 minutes by thunder storm early in the third frame,  and the Wildcats never got untracked on offense after that. Favre’s three interceptions followed, including one that was returned 50 yards by Greg Booker to seal the win.

PRCC travels to Mississippi Delta Thursday night.