Northwest Holds at No. 8 Ahead of Homecoming Clash

Rangers to host sixth-ranked Holmes on Thursday

Oct. 21, 2024 – Despite leaving Mississippi Delta with a 31-3 road win last week, Northwest remains locked at No. 8 in the NJCAA Division I Football Rankings, released Monday afternoon.

Northwest wasn’t the only team to remain in its previous spot, as the entire NJCAA Top 10 remained unchanged from the week before, including Holmes remaining at the No. 6 slot. Mississippi Gulf Coast also remains at No. 7 in the most-recent polls.

Only a handful of teams moved around in this week’s edition of the rankings, all outside the Top 10. East Central moved into the rankings at No. 14 following its win at Jones College over the weekend, while Itawamba fell from 14th to unranked after its loss to Holmes last Thursday.

Hutchinson (Kan.), Iowa Western, Georgia Military College, Snow College (Utah) and Garden City (Kan.) remain in spots 1-5, respectively.

Northwest (6-1, 4-0 MACCC North) will play host to sixth-ranked Holmes (7-0, 4-0 MACCC North) this Thursday, October 24. The Rangers and Bulldogs have been on a collision course for several weeks, with Holmes left standing as the lone unbeaten team left in the conference.

While the Rangers own a 48-20-2 all-time series advantage against the Bulldogs, both teams are currently tied atop the MACCC North Division standings. Itawamba is also lurking, sitting in third with a 3-1 division mark. (Northwest and ICC will play on Thursday, October 31.)

Thursday’s showdown also serves as the Rangers’ Homecoming game and home regular season finale. Northwest has won nine straight Homecoming contests against various teams, with the last loss coming in 2013.

Kickoff is slated for 7 P.M. from Ranger Stadium at Bobby Franklin Field. Pregame coverage begins at 6:30 P.M. on the Ranger TV Network, which includes Action News 5 Plus, WHCQ-LD 8 and WEBU-LD 22.