NAVARRO DEALS KC CONFERENCE LOSS | Rangers overwhelmed, 53-10, but most of season ahead
“The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.”
Rocky Balboa from the film Rocky Balboa (2006)
There have certainly been better days for the Kilgore College football program than Saturday.
And there will be more to come. But the Rangers may have some work to do.
Sixth-ranked Navarro, with a potent passing game, came to R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium with intentions – they were bad, or good, depending on what colors you wore.
If your colors of choice happened to be royal blue, white and gray, then it was a long day.
Navarro beat Kilgore College, 53-10, on Saturday in a Southwest Junior College Football Conference game that was hard for the Rangers, but by no means was it their early-exit from the conference playoffs that are over two months away.
Yes, the Rangers did fall to 1-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference standings after Saturday’s loss, a second straight (they had lost at New Mexico Military a week ago). And yes, there’s climbing to do. But KC only has to be in one of the top four spots in the conference standings (of eight teams) and there is plenty of time to improve, and to do that.
KC’s first step on that journey: a road game at Cisco College next Saturday, Sept. 27, at 3 p.m.
Saturday, the Navarro Bulldogs scored first, and only had one thing collectively on their minds: going back to Corsicana with a win.
NC quarterback Ryan Shackleton was good all day long, at least when he was in the game, and helped Navarro score on its first drive. The Bulldogs (2-1, and at the top of the conference standings currently) came out firing, a 75-yard drive and they threw for 73 of it, the final play a 30-yard pass from Shackelton to Jahari McDonald and a 7-0 lead.
As coach Willie Gooden’s Rangers have been prone to do, they punched right back. And quickly. KC scored and tied the game on a pass from Liam Oczkowski to Devontae Mozee near the line of scrimmage that Mozee busted for a 73-yard score (7-all tie).
Navarro would jump out to a 19-7 advantage, though, on two second-quarter field goals by Adrian Zamudio and another Shackelton touchdown pass, this one to Micah Simpson for a 6-yard score. With 6 ½ minutes left in the half, KC got back onto the scoreboard with a 46-yard field goal by Gwonwu Choi (19-10).
Unfortunately for the Rangers and their fans, that would be their last points of the day.
The Bulldogs scored twice more before the break: Sergio Snider broke the goal line on a 1-yard run, and Shackelton managed his third TD pass of the day: a 20-yarder to Mason Muaau. And Navarro led 33-10 at the half.
In the fourth quarter, a 30-yard touchdown run by Shackelton finished his day (39-10). His replacement, Nehemiah Broussard, connected with Olotu Judah midway through the fourth quarter, and then maybe a Navarro record, a pass play from Broussard to Israel Olutu-Judah with a minute-and-a-half left that went 98 yards, the game’s final score.
When the dust was settled, the Bulldogs finished with 578 yards of total offense and almost all of it passing.
KC had 360 total yards, but just couldn’t get in sync. Oczkowski was 19-of-36 for 271 yards and the score and two interceptions, as well. Mozee had the Rangers’ only touchdown and finished with two catches for 90 yards.
