MEETING: Saturday's meeting will be the 88th between the schools since the series began in 1948.

 

SERIES: Navarro leads the series, 53-33-1. The Bulldogs won last spring's game, 69-31, at Cub Stadium in Brenham. Blinn last defeated NC 38-33 at Corsicana's Tiger Stadium in 2019.

 

BULLDOGS RETURN TO MIDLO: Saturday's conference game marks Navarro's second appearance ever here at the near 8,000-seat facility that is the home for Midlothian High and Heritage High football. In 2007 – one year after the stadium opened – coach Ray Woodard's Bulldogs played then non-conference member NMMI and defeated the Broncos, 42-37. Navarro has played games within the Ellis County service area at Midlothian, Waxahachie's Stuart B. Lumpkin Stadium and Lion Memorial Stadium in Ennis.

 

TICKETS AND PARKING: Admission is free. Parking lots open at 1:30 pm. Stadium gates open at 2 pm.

 

STREAMING: The Navarro Sports YouTube Channel will provide live, free streaming of Saturday's game: https://youtu.be/BqIS8SFKaWQ Audio streaming only at kandradio.com with Steve Petty and Ronnie Greer on the call.

 

GAMEDAY WEATHER: Bright, sunny skies with temperatures approaching 94 degrees are forecast for Saturday's kickoff. South winds of 20 mph may gust during the afternoon. Humidity will be about 30 percent with a dew point of 53.

 

COACHES: Blinn's Ryan Mahon, the 'dean' of SWJCFC coaches, is in his sixth season. The former assistant at Tyler at Hutchinson CC has a 25-26 career head-coaching record with the Buccaneers. Scott Parr is in his third season at Navarro (11-12).

 

LAST WEEK'S GAMES: Blinn's two-game winning streak ended Saturday as unbeaten, seventh-ranked NMMI posted a 28-18 win at Cub Stadium in Brenham. Meanwhile, at Kilgore, Navarro rallied from as much as a 22-point deficit (35-13), powering out 34 unanswered in the second half for a 47-43 win over the Rangers.

 

MORE ON BLINN: Freshman Logan McDougald drew his first start of the season over Terrance Gipson in Saturday's loss. McDougald completed 19-of-37 passes for 234 yards, but threw three interceptions. Gipson, 47-of-78 for the season, had thrown his only two touchdown passes in a 74-12 win over non-member Louisiana Christian a week earlier. Season-leading rusher Josh Berry (17-110-1) gained 85 yards or more for the third straight week. The spring's leading rusher, Terrance Keyes, is coming off a 20-68-0 game against NMMI. The Bucs' defense made 15 tackles for losses last week, paced by the play of linebackers Nate Ryman (13 total tackles), Jonathan Bloom (12) and end Bryton Thompson (11). Thompson and defensive linemen Tarris Fields and Edgerrin Dillard-Williams lead Blinn's active front in TFLs.

 

BLINN BY THE NUMBERS: The Bucs norm 34 points and 478 yards with a near 50-50 split – 236.5 rushing and 241.5 passing. BC surrenders 28.8 points and 350 yards per outing, but only 145.5 against the rush.

 

NAVARRO BY THE NUMBERS: The 'Dawgs average 37 points and 499 yards offense, with ratios of 34 percent rushing 172 per game) and 66 passing (327 per game). NC's yielding about 40.8 points and 522 yards.

 

MORE ON NAVARRO: Qua Gray's 376 passing Saturday enabled him to regain the NJCAA category's individual lead (1601). The sophomore ranks second in per-game (320.3) and sits fourth in touchdown passes (13). Isaiah Robinson's six rushing touchdowns rank third. Wide receiver-return man Jeremiah Aaron continues to top receivers' per-game yardage (109.5).

 

SWJCFC SATURDAY: Northeastern Oklahoma A&M at Tyler, 1 pm; Blinn v. Navarro at Midlothian, 3 pm; Kilgore at Cisco, 3 pm. Open Dates – TVCC and NMMI.

 

NEXT WEEKEND: (Non-Conference) – Southern-Shreveport at Navarro, 1 pm. (Conference) – Northeastern Oklahoma A&M at Cisco, 1 pm; TVCC at Blinn, 3 pm; Tyler at NMMI, 3 pm. Open Date – Kilgore.

 

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T 78 Lysander Moeolo | 54 Phillip Houston

G 70 Kamon Bradford | 67 Quinterion Winn

C 65 Jawaun Singletary | 64 Angel Zamora

G 72 Donovan Ford | 63 Timothy Metevia

T 79 Elliott Bowser | 60 Garyeon Smallwood

QB 18 Qua Gray | 16 Jack Turner

RB 4 Isaiah Robinson | 28 Elijah Hines

X 1 Jeremiah Aaron | 85 Jay Wilkerson

H 3 Zavion Taylor | 83 Koby Cooper

Y 2 Quentin Lee | 81 Brandon Hawkins

Z 10 Karl Reynolds | 13 Jordan Woodberry

PK 41 Alexis Lopez | 77 Antonio Onofre

 

 

DE 34 Khalil White | 29 Jayden Hughes

DT 9 Mike Sandjo | 92 Reco Griffin

DT 55 R.J. Evans | 93 Nik Potts

DE 27 Kenneth Ellison | 96 Caleb Sims

LB 49 Nate Maulsby | 50 Tyler Farmer

LB 37 Chatavies Johnson | 45 LaQualon Hale

LB 24 Preston Hodge | 31 Martavian Jackson

LC 6 Tyrecus Davis | 5 Kaleno Levine

RC 8 Louis Moore | 38 Jalen Gray

R 20 Layne O'Dell | 43 Frank Burnell

FS 15 C.J. Bosket | 21 Travon Green

P 47 Ryan Shamburger | 77 Antonio Onofre