KC ROUTS CCC, HONORS HALL INDUCTEES | Rangers hope to use win as springboard back to conference playoffs

The Kilgore College Rangers took care of business on three different levels on Saturday at home against Community Christian.

1. They won the game – handily.
2. They broke a three-game losing streak, the first such three-game streak since 2011.
3. They honored people special to the athletic programs at KC, so special that it’s become an annual event.

KC, back at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium, ran over, around and through Louisiana-based Community Christian College, 55-0, on Saturday.

KC has beaten CCC twice, now, this season, by a combined score of 135-0.

Inductees into the Kilgore College Athletics Hall of Fame: Bernard Barrow, who suited up for the basketball Rangers for then-coach Scott Schumacher from 1997 through 1999; former women’s basketball standout Jade Thurmon (2016-2018); Heather Bunn, of Rangers’ softball (2013-14); and then the 1982 football Rangers.

Dave Wilson, one of ESPN.com’s leading college football writers (one of their best writers, period) was inducted into the hall as this year’s Spirit of Excellence award-winner. Wilson is also the son of longtime businessman, car dealership owner and former Kilgore Mayor Bill Wilson.

And last but certainly not least, Chris Craddock was inducted into the hall in the contributor category. Craddock, KC’s director of public information, is known for being the son of legendary KC instructor Bettye Craddock and the late Van Craddock Jr., both of whom are two of East Texas’s great citizens in their own right, Mrs. Craddock as an instructor at the college and as the flagship of The Flare for so many years, and Mr. Craddock as a writer at the Longview News-Journal, a Vietnam veteran, a syndicated columnist and a public relations director for Good Shepherd Medical Center. Chris’s merits stand on their own, though, in his capacity as public relations director, as he’s been nothing short of fantastic in his role, and representing Kilgore College.

In other scores around the Southwest Junior College Football Conference (SWJCFC) this weekend, Trinity Valley blew by Blinn, 45-20; Tyler Junior College had some late-game heroics and escaped New Mexico Military, 18-17, in Roswell, New Mexico; and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (NEO) won for the first time this season in conference play, beating Cisco, 26-19.

KC is now 2-3 overall, and is off this weekend, Oct. 11.

The Rangers return to action the following Saturday, Oct. 18, at home against Trinity Valley. That game kicks off at 1 p.m. and fans are asked to participate in KC’s Pink-Out, in honor of October’s distinction as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Against the Spartans for the second time this year, Liam Oczkowski of Calgary, Alberta, Canada (All Saints High) went 18-of-18 for 258 yards and a pair of touchdowns, to Brandon Ward (20 yards) in the first quarter and with Houston, Mississippi’s Titus Ivy (40 yards) at the 2:49 mark of the first half. KC led 20-0 at halftime, courtesy of those two touchdowns and two field goals (of 20 and 44 yards by Gwonwu Choi of Chuncheon High in Gangwon-do, South Korea.

The Rangers added a whopping 35 second-half points and really completely shut the Spartans down – again. All of CCC’s positive yards (the Spartans only had 90) came in the first half, and Shaun Ukeje (Arlington Seguin) and Tyrian Jackson (Arlington Bowie) each had an interception.

Ukeje’s pick set up Choi’s second-quarter 44-yard field goal.

After a phenomenal first-half performance, Oczkowski gave way to Jahrik Jones (Houston Summer Creek) and Christian Nunley (Conroe High) in the second half. Jones ran for two touchdowns and Nunley also scored on a TD run (22 yards), and had a completion for 4 yards. Jones threw for 40.

The Rangers’ ground game was healthy. In addition to the three touchdowns by the quarterbacks, Zaedon Collins (Clinton, Okla.) had a score to go with 91 yards – his TD run was a 14 yarder –  and Ezell Jolly (of Houston Ridge Point) also scored (from 19 yards out).

Ward wound up catching six passes for 84 yards and the TD. Ivey had five for 73, and the long score. Choi had a very busy day: he went 7-of-7 in extra points and had the two field goals.

By the way: the Rangers also did something else noteworthy on Saturday: they wore small stickers on the backs of their helmets paying tribute to victims of flooding in south central Texas earlier this year. Twenty-seven children died at Camp Mystic, in Kerr County, about 80 miles northwest of San Antonio. At least 138 people were lost in all, according to authorities.

As mentioned, Trinity Valley is up next, here at R.E. St. John on Saturday, again a special 1 p.m. kickoff. Yes, it’s a rivalry game, but it’s very, VERY important to KC – well, and TVCC, too.

The SWJCFC standings look like this: Tyler Junior College, ranked third nationally behind only Hutchinson (Kan.) and Iowa Western, are 5-0 overall and 3-0 in conference play. Navarro is 3-1 overall and also 3-0 in conference.

TVCC is 4-1, but only 2-1 in conference play. Blinn is 3-2, and in a four-way tie for fourth place in the conference, but with a losing conference record (1-2). Cisco (2-2, 1-2), New Mexico Military (2-3, 1-2), and NEO (1-4, 1-2) are the other teams in that four-way tie.

So KC is not out of it. They have four games left. But they have to start winning if the playoffs are going to be in their future.

The Rangers went 6-4 a year ago, the most losses KC had in a single season since 2021.

KC is coached by the phenomenal Willie Gooden, who has been a player for the Rangers, almost every role an assistant coach could have, and took the reins as head coach in 2019. Gooden is 48-21, and has won back-to-back conference titles and gotten the Rangers to the NJCAA’s national four-team playoff.

To make the conference playoffs this year, though, KC is going to need to make up ground. They’re in an 0-3 hole after losing at New Mexico Military, at home to Navarro and at Cisco.

KC has, of course, Trinity Valley left, and then a home game against Tyler Junior College (Oct. 18, 3 p.m.), a road trip to Brenham to face Blinn (Nov. 1., 3 p.m.), and KC’s homecoming game against Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (NEO), a 1 p.m. kickoff in the final regular season game on Nov. 8.

Only the top four teams in the conference standings make the playoffs, which will begin Nov. 15.