After spending the past few weeks on the outside looking in of the NJCAA Division I National Rankings, Northwest has re-entered the national polls ahead of Thursday’s regular season finale against Northeast.
Northwest, which had been unranked but receiving votes since dropping out of the polls, enters this week at No. 15, just two slots behind Northeast. Copiah-Lincoln tops all MACCC teams in the polls at No. 5 nationally, followed by Mississippi Gulf Coast (6th), East Mississippi (8th) and Jones College (10th).
Aside from a couple scattered weeks outside the polls in 2021 and this season, Northwest has been ranked nearly every week since the 2015 season. The Rangers have won three straight games, including last week’s 36-28 thriller at Holmes.
With East Mississippi’s victory at Itawamba last week, the Lions have clinched the North Division title, leaving second place and the division’s final playoff spot up for grabs. Both Northwest and Northeast sit at 4-1 in the division entering this week’s matchup, with the winner punching their ticket to the playoffs and the losing team seeing its season come to an end.
Kickoff for Thursday’s home finale is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Bobby Franklin Field, with tickets still available online at nwccrangers.com/tickets. Pregame coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. on Ranger TV (nwccrangers.com/watch), Action News 5 Plus, WHCQ-LD 8 and WEBU-LD 22.
