Northwest: Women’s soccer still #1; football slips to #8
Oct. 14, 2024 – After battling through its toughest week of the season last week, Northwest remains No. 1 in the NJCAA Division II Women’s Soccer Rankings for the ninth straight poll.
The rankings are released every Monday afternoon and the Lady Rangers enter this week at 12-0 overall, following victories over previous No. 20 Itawamba and No. 4 Holmes. Northwest defeated ICC 5-1 last Tuesday, before battling to a gritty 3-2 win at Holmes on Friday.
Johnson County (Kan.) remains at No. 2 with a 12-0-3 record, followed by third-ranked Heartland (14-1-1). Holmes remained at No. 4 with its season record slipping to 10-3-1, while Phoenix College rounds out the top five with an 11-1-1 overall mark.
As for other MACCC teams represented in the polls, Jones College slid from No. 5 to No. 7 in this week’s rankings, followed by 12th-ranked Pearl River. Itawamba moved up two spots to No. 18 and Mississippi Gulf Coast rejoined the rankings at No. 20 overall.
RANGERS FOOTBALL DROPS ONE SPOT TO #8 IN NJCAA RANKINGS
Following a close 23-20 victory on the road at Southwest Mississippi last Thursday, the Northwest football program slid a spot from No. 7 to No. 8 in the latest batch of NJCAA Division I Football Rankings, released Monday afternoon.
Northwest (5-1) is one of three MACCC programs ranked in the Top 10 of this week’s poll, preceded by Holmes (6-0) at No. 6 and seventh-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast (5-1), which dropped from its previous No. 3 spot after last week’s upset loss to East Central.
Itawamba (5-1) is the only other MACCC team ranked this week, as the Indians went from unranked to No. 14. Copiah-Lincoln is also receiving votes, but unranked.
Next up for Northwest is a road division contest at Mississippi Delta on Thursday, October 17 at 7 P.M. The Trojans (1-5, 0-3 MACCC North) are coming off a 52-21 loss to Holmes last week and have lost each of their last three games.
Northwest leads the all-time series against Mississippi Delta by a 49-23-2 margin. In last year’s meeting in Moorhead, the Rangers captured a 31-13 victory against the Trojans, running their winning streak against MDCC to 11 games. Northwest has won 18 of the last 19 meetings against the Trojans, dating back to 2006.
