Hinds Community College restored its tradition as a state junior college power this season, but a championship will have to wait.

Bo Wallace threw seven touchdown passes — four of them in the second half — to help East Mississippi Community College beat Hinds 55-24 on Saturday in a Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges playoff game.

Hinds, which was ranked 14th in the National Junior Colleges Athletic Association poll, finished the season with a 7-3 overall record and went 5-1 in the South Division.

In the other MACJC semifinal Saturday, Mississippi Gulf Coast beat Northeast Mississippi 20-17 in overtime to advance to its fifth consecutive state championship game.

Gulf Coast’s (9-1) one loss this season was to Wallace and East Mississippi (10-0), and against the freshman from Pulaski, Tenn., showed why he’s one of the top junior college quarterbacks in the country.

Wallace kept third-ranked East Mississippi in the game during a wild first half, then kept slinging as it pulled away in the second.

Hinds quarterback Deon Anthony threw for one touchdown and ran for another in the first half. His 33-yard TD pass to Trevon Chatman with 8:26 left in the second quarter gave the Eagles a 21-14 lead.

After Wallace threw a 5-yard TD pass to Lacoltan Bester to get East Mississippi within a point, Kyle Williams booted a 45-yard field goal to give Hinds a 24-20 lead.

It was short-lived.

Wallace answered back with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Hamp Glover with 41 seconds left in the half to put EMCC ahead for good.

Wallace added four more touchdowns in the second half while East Mississippi’s defense put the clamps on Hinds’ offense. Hinds didn’t score in the second half and Anthony finished the game a mediocre 16-of-31 passing for 178 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.

Jeremy Palmer rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries for Hinds. Adonis Armstrong had an interception on defense, giving him eight for the season, and former Port Gibson star Mitchell Hoskins had eight solo tackles and three assists.

Wallace completed 36 of 56 passes for 360 yards, and his seven touchdowns were caught by six different receivers. He now has 42 touchdown passes for the season and surpassed the 3,700-yard mark.

Antoinne Adkins also had a rushing touchdown for East Mississippi.