GAME: Southwest Junior College Football Conference Semifinal Playoffs

OPPONENTS:  Cisco at Navarro

KICKOFF: 1PM CST Saturday,. November 16

VENUE: Tiger Field at CNB&T Stadium, Corsicana

GAMEDAY WEATHER: Mostly sunny and pleasant with kickoff-time temperature of 70 degrees., heading toward an afternoon high of 75.  South-southeast winds at 8 miles per hour may gust to 17.  The relative humidity of 56 percent will approximate a 56 dewpoint.

TICKETS:  Purchase tickets online in advance at Home Town Ticketing via the navarrobulldogs.com website.  There are no cash options available at the stadium.

LIVESTREAM:  The game will be streamed live on Navarro Sports YouTube.  Pre-game begins about 12:30 PM when Richey Curer and head coach Ryan Taylor go in "The Red Zone"   Scott Batts handles play-by-play and Michael Busby offer color commentary. 

LINK:  Football - SWJCFC Semi-Finals - Navarro vs Cisco

AUDIOSTREAM:  Cisco's audio stream, featuring Caleb Galvan on play-by-play, will air on KATX 97.7 FM and also FTLGRadio.com (For The Love Of The Game).  KATX 97.7 FM (Eastland) will air on the FM signal and is accessible on the internet via the station's web page.

RECORDS:   Cisco (4-4 / 4-3).  Navarro ( 6-2 / 5-2).

TEAM STATISTICS:  Cisco averages 22 points and 319 yards (64 rushing and 255 passing), The Wranglers; defense gives up 29 points and 344 yards per game (139 rushing and 205 passing)……Navarro averages 41 points and 415 yards (130 rushing and 285 passing(. The Bulldog defense yielded 24 points and 349 yards (138 rushing and 211 passing). 

HOW CISCO GOT HERE:  Cisco's 19-11 win over Blinn at Brenham, coupled with Kilgore's

20-10 loss at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, left the Wranglers and the Rangers tied for third-place in conference play with identical 4-3 records.  Cisco finished third thanks to a head-to-head tiebreaker advantage by beating KC 35-30 in the regular-season meeting at R.E. st. John Memorial Stadium in Kilgore.  Cisco, with its fourth head coach in four seasons, had been picked to finish seventh in preseason coaches and media polls.  Confounding the 'experts,' CJC won its first three games – including league victories over TVCC and Kilgore – and reached the NJCAA's No. 11 ranking in one of the polling periods.

POST-SEASON HISTORY:  During the Co-VID Spring, 2021 season, coach Ryan Taylor led Cisco to its first undefeated season, an outright SWJCFC Championship and the NJCAA's No. 3 Final Ranking…..In 2005, the late Kurt Nichols led the Wranglers to a 47-27 C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart Of Texas Bowl win over Dodge City.
 

HOW NAVARRO GOT HERE:  The Bulldogs are on a tear and the weekly improvement is visible.  For the fourth time in their last five games and the fifth of eight this fall, the Bulldogs surpassed the 40-point plateau, racking up 440 yards offense from 59 plays in a 48-28 win over NMMI at Roswell, NM.  The statement win enabled Navarro to snap a five-game losing streak to NMMI and beat the Broncos for the first time since the 2019 SWJCFC Championship matchup in Corsicana.   The 2024 Bulldogs, now with 326 points, have joined the school's Top-20 single-season scoring teams.

UPDATING THE RESUME:  Sixth-ranked Navarro, now with a 71-21 record at home since 2006, is looking for its first five-game winning streak since the 2017 season.  Another win Saturday would catapult NC into its 14th SWJCFC Championship Game appearance in the league's 29th year.  The Bulldogs appeared in SWJCFC finals in 1996, 1997, 1999, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015,2019 and 2023.

SERIES HISTORY: Saturday's meeting will be the 75th since the series began in 1947 with a 12-0 Cisco win. Navarro leads the series, 54-19-1 and brings a four-game win streak against CJC, Saturday;s game marks the first playoff meeting in the 29-year history of the SWJCFC.   Navarro's last losses to Cisco occurred at Chesley Field in 2007 (28-14).  Cisco's last win over the Bulldogs in Corsicana occurred in 1997 when coach Chuck Lawrence's Wranglers spoiled Navarro's homecoming 20-7 at old Tiger Field.  

Lawrence began a nine-year run as Navarro's head coach in 1998.

COACHES: Cisco elevated defensive coordinator Charlie Rizzio to replace Stephen Lee as CJC's head coach when Lee became a Tarleton State assistant. Rizzio is Cisco's fourth head coach in as many years. Following Ryan Taylor (2021), John O;Mera (2022) and Lee (2023). Rizio also has served as a linebacker coach at Missouri Western… …. Ryan Taylor is 28-16 overall in five SWJCFC seasons and 17-11 in his third year at Navarro. Taylor, a former offensive lineman at Denison High School, Tyler Junior College and UCLA.

MORE ON THE NMMI GAME:   Mason Shorb completed 15-of-20 passes for 258 yards and four touchdowns in the 48-28 win, and Ryan Shackelton came on in relief to hit 9-of-9 for 81 yards.  Shawn Brown and Braylon Finney each caught two touchdown passes.

THREE WEEKS AGO IN CISCO:  Cisco's last-chance play at 0:00 went away when quarterback Landon Vessel's 20-yard pass for receiver Kye Stone sailed high out of the back of the end zone, and Navarro escaped with a 30-24 win at Chesley Field. While defeating Cisco for the fourth consecutive year, the Bulldogs won their second straight league game and pulled into third place in the conference standings.

FOURTH-QUARTER SCARE: The 'Dogs survived a final-period scare more suited for Halloween. With the score tied at 17, the final 15 minutes featured a fumble return, a blocked field-goal return, an offensive pass interference call on the final timed play of regulation that negated a TD, and a repeat fourth-down play at 0:00 left everyone wide-eyed.

THE WILD FINISH: NC denied Cisco a go-ahead score by forcing a fumble at the NC one-yard line that Moses Madubuike, Jordan Ford and Mumu Bin-Wahad transformed into a 99-yard scoring return. Unaffected by the 14-point swing, Cisco's Kobe Burgess returned a blocked field-goal attempt 66 yards for a TD that enabled CJC to take a 24-23 lead. Unmoved by a 10-point swing, NC used four plays to regain the lead with about five minutes left on Braylon Finney's 17-yard reception from Mason Shorb. CJC uncoiled a clock-draining drive to the NC 3. On the final play of regulation, official ruled that Jamaal Hall committed offensive pass interference on an apparent game-tying touchdown reception at the pylon. Navarro accepted the penalty, pushing the Wrangers back to the NC 18 for a final play with no time showing. Quarterback Landon Vessel's pass sailed over receiver Kye Ston in the back of the end.
 

WRANGLER WATCH: QB Landon Vessel (139-215-1936-12-8+, WRs Jamaal Hall, Jr., (40-430), Kye Stone, (31-569), Bryson Nealey (20-261 and Dayvion Bluitt (19-196), DL Taylor Masters (70 racjkes(m LB Tate Akkeb (61). Kobe Burgess (44), LB Jeremy Sekulo

BULLDOG WATCH: QB Mason Shorb and Ryan Shackelton, , RBs Clay Thevenin, WRs Chris Lewis, Aaron Woods, Braylon Finney, Shawn Brown and Tim Burns, DE Dallas Patrick, NG Amari Deason, LBs Aubrey Smith. Moses Madubuike and Cormury Butts, DBs Mumu Bin-Wahad, J.P. Patterson, K Haden Tessier.

SWJCFC WEEKEND:  Saturday's second SWHCFC Semifinal pairs fourth-seeded Kilgore (5-3/4-3) and top-seeded regular-season champion Tyler (6-3 / 6-1) on Earl Campbell Field at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium in Tyler.  The 3 PM game will be live-streamed on TJC Apache Athletics YouTube and also an audio stream from 92.1 FM The Team (KTBB listen live)  Saturday;s semifinal winners meet November 23 at the home of the highest-seeded team.

EXTRA POINTS: Sandwiched between Cisco's 3-0 start and its 4-4 finish is the fact that the Wranglers are 3-1 on the road this season….The Bulldogs averaging 46.2 points over their last four wins…..Shorb's has passed for 1,181 yards and 13 touchdowns in his last four games – and that doesn't include his personal-best 406-yard passing game against Blinn….Likewise, Shackelton responded with impressive numbers at her ready.  He's hit 16-of-19 passes for 252 yards and  rushed for 9-46-1.