GAME: Navarro at New Mexico Military Institute

KICKOFF:  3 PM CST / 2 PM MST  Saturday, November 9

VENUE:  The Wool Bowl, Roswell, NM

GAMEDAY WEATHER:  Clear and sunny with temperatures approaching 65 degrees at kickoff.  South-southeast winds at 5 miles per hour may gust to 13.  Humidity of 41 percent with a 36 dewpoint.

LIVESTREAMING:  The game will air on ksvptv.com.  TSBN Sports also will air the game.

SERIES HISTORY:  The teams are meeting for the 17^th time since 1967 when Navarro scored a 7-5 win in Corsicana.  Navarro leads the series 9-7, but NMMI has a five-game winning streak.  The Bulldogs last defeated the Broncos in the 2019 season.  Then, NC beat The Institute 47-10 at Roswell on October 12, and four weeks later on November 9, won the SWJCC Championship 36-35 at Tiger Stadium In a rare matchup of 3-4 seeds.  Aside from the conference title game, the teams twice met in bowl games – NMM( won the 1980 Wool Bowl at Roswell, while Navarro won rhe 2011 Hwart iff Texas Bowl 40-24 sy Bulldawg Stadium in Copperas Cove.

WELCOME TO OUR SIDE:  NMMI joined the South. I.west Junior College Football Conference in 2016 after the Western States Football League (1985-2015) folded.  NMMI became the first SWJCFC team since Navarro (2010) to win the NJCAA Division I Title in 2021.
 

REMEMBER DIEGO PAVIA?  Pavia played quarterback at Albuquerque Volcano Vista High School, NMMI, New Mexico State and Vanderbilt.  He led NMMI to its first NJCAA Division I National Football Championsip in 2021 as the Broncos beat top-ranked Iowa Western, 31-13, at Wat Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.  Earlier this season, he generated headlines  after guided Vanderbilt past top-ranked Alabama 40-35.

ANYTIME, ANYWHERE:  The Navarro-NMMI matchup has been plyed at seven different venues 00 old Tiger Field in Corsicana (1967), the Wool Bowl in Roswell (1980), Colt Field on NMMI's campus (2002), Midlothian ISD Stadium (2007),  the C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart Of wl at Bulldawg Stadium in Copperas Cove (2011), Midlothian ISD Stadium (2007), Tiger Stadium in Corsicana (2017) and Wigwam Stadium in Seminole, Tx (Spring, 2021).

THE LAST MEETING: NMMI's 50-30 win at Corsicana gave Navarro a conference-opening loss and sent the Bulldogs spiraling to an 0-2 start.   Quarterback Kobe Muasau threw for 275 yards and five touchdowns  -- three to Treyvion Beamon (5-123).  Running back Montajh Joseph gained 113 yards on 10 carries with a score.  The Broncos mabbed five interceptions from two NC quarterbacks.  Navarro running back Clay Thevenin posted a career-best 29-169-1.

COACHES:  Oliver Soukup is completing his first year as NMMI's coach.  Soukup returns to "The Old Post" after a one-year stint in 2011 as the special teams coordinator and defensive line coach under Josh Lynn. NMMI finished with a 9-3 record.e followed Lynn to Eastern New Mexico University…..Ryan Taylor's wrapping up his third season at Navarro.

PLAYOFF-BOUND, BUT WHERE?  It appears Kilgore and Navarro are headed for a semifinal clash as a 203 matchup in some form.  Should Navarro win at NMMI and Kilgore win at NEO A&M, Navarro would ean the No.3 seed and play at No. 2 seed Kilgore in next week's SWJCFC Semifinal. A Navarro win coupled with a Kilgore loss would make the Bulldogs a No. 2 seed, hosting the Rangers.

NAVARRO LAST WEEK:  Quarterbacks Mason Shorb and Ryan Shackelton combined for 377 passing yards and five touchdowns as Navarro bludgeoned seventh-ranked, SWJCFC regular-season champion Tyler. 

NMMI LAST WEEK:  The Broncos' 35-18 non-conference loss to No. 6 Snow left them 3-6 overall, and no longer eligible to host the annual Wool Bowl game in December.  Quarterback Jake South, playing in place of injured starter Elliott Paskett-Bell, flung 34-of-60 passes for 384 of its 408-yard total offensive.  Last week against the Badgers, NMMI had a 98-59 play advantage, but averaged only 4.1 yards with all the passing.  In his two previous starts against NEO and TVCC, South was a combined 31-of-57.

STREAKS:  No. 7 Navarro's won three straight (TVCC, 61-10; Ciaxo, 30-24; and Tyler, 49-24).  NMMI's lost three in a row (NEO, 16-15; TVCC, 32-9; and Snow, 35-18).

STATS:  NMMI averages 19 points and 336 yards (126 rushing and  210 passing),  The Broncos' defense yields 25 points and 365 yards (210 rushing and 155 passing).   Navarro averages 40 points and 399 yards (133 rushing and 263 passing).  The Bulldogs' defense yields 23 points and 355 yards (145 rushing and 210 passing),

BULLDOG WATCH:  QBs Mason Shorb and Ryan Shackelton, RB Clay Thevenin, WRs Tim Borns, Shawn Brown, Malachai Jackson and Aaroon Woods, LBs Aubrey Smith, Cormury Butts, Moses Madubuike, SS Jordan Ford, DBs Mumu Bin-Wahad, Matai Tomas, PK-P Haden Tessier.

SWJCFC SATURDAY: The other final regular-season games include Kilgore at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (1 PM); Cisco at Blinn (3 PM).