Ranger report: Football, women’s soccer set to start playoffs
Nov 4, 2024- With victories by Northwest and Mississippi Gulf Coast to close the regular season, both teams remained in the same slots in the latest NJCAA rankings, released Monday afternoon.
Northwest remained in its No. 4 ranking and Mississippi Gulf Coast kept steady at No. 5 ahead of Saturday’s MACCC Semifinal clash. Both teams enter the matchup with 8-1 overall records.
Iowa Western remained No. 1, followed by second-ranked Georgia Military College and No. 3 Hutchinson (Kan.). Other MACCC programs in the rankings include eighth-ranked East Central and No. 12 Holmes, while East Mississippi and Itawamba received votes.
Earning its 11th straight playoff berth, Northwest is facing Mississippi Gulf Coast this Saturday at 7 p.m. The Rangers and Bulldogs are meeting for the first time since the 2023 season-opener, as Northwest holds a 22-21-2 series lead.
Northwest and MGCCC are no strangers to meeting in the postseason, as both programs have faced each other three times in the conference playoffs since 2015. The Rangers took the 2020 MACCC and National Community College Football Championship in Perkinston, 40-13, while the Bulldogs captured the 2019 MACJC Championship in Senatobia by a 22-19 decision.
Tickets for Saturday’s game are on sale now at nwccrangers.com/tickets. Fans planning to attend the game will need to adhere to the Rangers’ clear bag policy.
Northwest women’s soccer to begin postseason on Thursday
After concluding the regular season with an unblemished 16-0 overall record and an 11-0 mark against MACCC competition, the top-ranked Northwest Lady Rangers will begin the first stage of the postseason on Thursday in the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament.
As the MACCC champion, Northwest will be the No. 1 seed for the tournament and are pitted against fourth-seeded Itawamba. The match is scheduled for an 11 a.m. start time, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s championship match against the victor of the Holmes-Pearl River battle.
Northwest is aiming to defend last season’s NJCAA Region 23 title, the first in program history. Prior to that, the Lady Rangers finished as the tournament runners-up in 2022, after Holmes won on penalty kicks.
Itawamba entered the semifinals with a 12-3-2 overall record and advanced on penalty kicks against 12th-ranked and defending national champions Jones College. The match was tied 1-1 and remained deadlocked through two overtime periods.
In the regular season meeting against the Lady Indians, Northwest earned a 5-1 victory on Oct. 8. Itawamba was ranked No. 20 at the time and currently holds the No. 19 slot.
