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RCC defends top ranking

The post-season is finally set out west and eight different programs will battle for the right to call themselves state champions in California. Riverside City College defended its No. 1 ranking with a convincing win over Saddleback.

RCC defended the Southern League title with a 56-25 win on Saturday night in Mission Viejo
RCC defended the Southern League title with a 56-25 win on Saturday night in Mission Viejo (c/o Cliff Robbins)
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Riverside and Saddleback were on a collision course for nine straight weeks and finally had a chance to settle the question of who was the top dog in the National Division Southern League. Riverside made a convincing statement, beating Saddleback 56-25 and taking home the top seed in Southern California for the upcoming playoffs where they will host No. 24 Mt San Antonio College. No. 6 Saddleback also made the playoffs and will travel to No. 15 Canyons.

The Northern California playoffs are also set and No. 3 College of San Mateo earned the top seed. The Bulldogs will host No. 9 Fresno City while No. 17 Modesto will host No. 8 American River in the other semi-final.

Now that we’ve got the good news out of the way, we can get on to the NJCAA bowl matchups. The top teams were announced when it was decided that No. 2 Gulf Coast will play No. 4 Lackawanna in the NJCAA title game on December 5 in Pittsburg, Kansas. From that point forward, some of the bowl matchups are somewhat a mystery. There is two good ones to talk about and the rest are a bit puzzling. The most intriguing of the remaining games is No. 16 Hinds traveling to Iowa to take on No. 7 Iowa Western in the opening game of the Graphic Edge Bowl double-header. The next best matchup features No. 23 Trinity Valley and No. 14 Butler in the Midwest Classic Bowl at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.

In the other games, unranked Nassau will travel to No. 37 Iowa Central in the Graphic Edge Bowl feature game. Unranked Itasca will travel to Illinois to take on unranked DuPage in the Red Grange Bowl. The most puzzling is always the Salt City Bowl, where No. 5 Hutchinson invited unranked Monroe. I understand there is logistical issues when it comes to inviting teams to play in a bowl game, but the committee for the Salt City Bowl has once again completely whiffed. How about Jones? What about Northwest? Kilgore? It will definitely not help with their final ranking!

In total, we had five different conference winners not invited to a bowl game and the top independent program also not included. At some point the entire system needs an overhaul.

BIG GAMES THIS WEEK:

#1 Riverside City vs. #24 Mt. San Antonio
#3 San Mateo vs. #9 Fresno City
#6 Saddleback at #15 Canyons
#8 American River at #17 Modesto
#12 Ventura vs. #36 Cerritos
#19 Long Beach City vs. #50 Southwestern
#22 Chaffey vs. #48 San Bernardino Valley
#25 San Francisco vs. #44 Shasta
#31 San Diego Mesa vs. #39 El Camino
#33 Laney vs. #40 Sierra
#35 Foothill at #45 Reedley

The rest of the JCGridiron.com Dirty 30 Rankings follow. Just a reminder, JCGridiron.com does not include games against prep schools, club teams, or non-affiliated programs in the records.

JCGridiron Dirty 30 Rankings (11/18/19)
Rank School City Record Next

1

Riverside City

Riverside, CA

10-0

vs #24 Mt. SAC

2

Gulf Coast

Perkinston, MS

11-0

vs #4 Lackawanna (Dec 5)

3

San Mateo

San Mateo, CA

10-0

vs #9 Fresno City

4

Lackawanna

Scranton, PA

8-0

@ #2 Gulf Coast (Dec 5)

5

Hutchinson

Hutchinson, KS

8-2

vs Monroe (Dec 7)

6

Saddleback

Mission Viejo, CA

9-1

@ #15 Canyons

7

Iowa Western

Council Bluffs, IA

8-3

vs #16 Hinds

(Dec 8)

8

American River

Sacramento, CA

8-2

@ #17 Modesto

9

Fresno City

Fresno, CA

8-2

@ #3 San Mateo

10

Jones

Ellisville, MS

7-2

Done

11

Independence

Independence, KS

8-2*

Done

12

Ventura

Ventura, CA

8-2

vs #36 Cerritos

13

Northwest

Senatobia, MS

8-3

Done

14

Butler

El Dorado, KS

8-3

vs #23 Trinity Valley (Dec 8)

15

Canyons

Santa Clarita, CA

8-2

vs #6 Saddleback

16

Hinds

Raymond, MS

7-2

vs #7 Iowa Western (Dec 8)

17

Modesto

Modesto, CA

8-2

vs #8 American River

18

Kilgore

Kilgore, TX

7-2

Done

19

Long Beach City

Long Beach, CA

7-3*

vs #50 Southwestern

20

Garden City

Garden City, KS

8-3

Done

21

Butte

Oroville, CA

7-3

vs Sequoias

22

Chaffey

Rancho Cucamonga, CA

10-0

vs #48 San Bernardino Valley

23

Trinity Valley

Athens, TX

5-3

vs #14 Butler

(Dec 8)

24

Mt. San Antonio

Walnut, CA

7-3

@ #1 Riverside CC

25

San Francisco

San Francisco, CA

7-3

vs #44 Shasta

26

Georgia Military

Milledgeville, GA

6-3

Done

27

East Mississippi

Scooba, MS

6-4

Done

28

Navarro

Corsicana, TX

5-5

Done

29

Snow

Ephraim, UT

3-3

Done

30

Fullerton

Fullerton, CA

5-5

Done

Others on the Bubble: San Diego Mesa (CA) 7-3, Highland (KS) 5-5, Laney (CA) 6-4, Ft. Scott (KS) 5-5, Foothill (CA) 10-0, Cerritos (CA) 6-4, Iowa Central 5-6, Itawamba (MS) 5-4, El Camino (CA) 6-4, Sierra (CA) 6-4, New Mexico Military 4-5, Tyler (TX) 4-5, Copiah-Lincoln (MS) 4-5, Shasta (CA) 7-3, Reedley (CA) 9-1, ASA-Miami (FL) 2-3 *, ASA-Brooklyn (NY) 3-2, San Bernardino Valley (CA) 9-1, East Central (MS) 4-5, Southwestern (CA) 6-4

* = received forfeit win

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