The 2023 season-opening edition of Navarro Gamedy football appears weekly on the Navarro College Athletics Facebook Page, and at navarrobulldogs.com

 

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(2) HUTCHINSON BLUE DRAGONS at (11) NAVARRO BULLDOGS
GAMEDAY: 7:30 pm Saturday, August 26

VENUE: CNB&T Stadium, Corsicana

TICKETS: Free admission.

BROADCASTS: The game will be livestreamed on the NavarroSports You Tube Channel with Scott Batts and Michael Busby on the call. The pre-game show will start at 7:15 pm. LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3wwEIzu0ps Hutchinson's audio broadcast will be streamed on Eagle Media's Country 102.9 with Glenn Grunwald on play-by-play, Daren Dunn on color commentary and Sean Boston reporting on the sidelines.

GAMEDAY WEATHER: Excessive heat warning in effect Friday and Saturday. Daytime high temperatures Saturday are expected to reach 106 degrees. The temperature will feel like 111 degrees. South-southwest winds at 8 miles per hour with an occasional gust of 15 miles per hour are expected.

HEAD COACHES: Drew Dallas (28-3) begins his fourth season at Hutchinson. His teams won the 2021 NJCAA Championship and finished 2023 as the NJCAA Runner-Up. Ryan Taylor begins his second season at Navarro and third overall (20-9). Taylor guided Navarro to a 6-4 record and the SWJCFC Semifinals in his first season after leading an unbeaten Cisco team to its first-ever SWJCFC title and third place in the Spring 2021 NJCAA Poll.

PRESEASON RANKINGS: Hutchinson is picked to win the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Championship for the fifth time in the last six seasons. The Blue Dragons have preseason ranks of second in the NJCAA and fourth in JUCO Weekly's Top 15…. Navarro is picked second by coaches and third by media in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference Polls. The Bulldogs have preseason ranks of ninth in JUCO Weekly's Top 15 and 11th in the NJCAA,

RETURNING STARTERS: Hutchinson brings back only one defensive starter – cornerback Jaymar Mundy. Navarro returns NJCAA Honorable Mention All-America quarterback Dane Jentsch

MEETING: The teams are meeting for the fifth time since 2012. The series is tied, 2-2. Navarro won the first two games, 54-34 at Corsicana, and 41-16 at Hutchinson. Hutchinson won the last two – a 35-6 victory in the 2018 Salt City Bowl, and a 42-0 decision in the 2022 season opener at Gowans Stadium. In that game, Navarro absorbed its first shutout loss ending the Bulldogs' school-record scoring streak at 257 consecutive games.

LAST YEAR'S GAME: Quarterback Dylan Laible eclipsed the 2,000-yard career passing mark in his 16th game by throwing for 278 yards and five scores. In Laible's 13-for-18 effort, he threw touchdowns of 50 and 18 yards to Micah Woods, 48 and 15 to Marcello Nelson and 90 to Alabama recruit Malik Nelson. Navarro committed five turnovers, managed only 216 yards offense and suffered its first shutout loss since the middle of the 1997 season when Tyler posted a 21-0 win at Rose Stadium.