CHAMPIONSHIP DREAMS & MORE ON THE LINE AT ROSE TODAY | TJC hosts NEO for conference title, and to get into national title mini-tourney
To say there’s a lot riding on the Southwest Junior College Football Conference championship game today – that’s an understatement.
There’s ALWAYS a lot riding on that game; always.
The winner gets to call themselves the champions of what’s likely the toughest junior college football conference in the nation, alongside conferences in Mississippi and Kansas. Winning the Texas JUCO title is a grind. Heck, winning the battle of Highway 31 – the rivalry between Tyler Junior College, Kilgore College, Trinity Valley and Navarro – THAT’S hard enough!
But coach Tanner Jacobson and the TJC Apaches, ranked No. 3 in the nation and the No. 1 seed in the conference playoffs, have so much to play for.
Tyler Junior College (10-0 overall, 7-0 in conference play) will be home again today at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium in Tyler, a 1 p.m. kickoff against the invaders from the north, second-seeded Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (NEO for short), whose Golden Norsemen have battled through conference purgatory for a little over a decade to get back to the conference championship game.
NEO is 6-4 overall, but got on a hot streak lately, and is 6-2 in conference play.
If NEO wins, quite frankly, there may not be a lot left in the season for the Norsemen. There might be a bowl appearance.
But if Tyler wins… uh-oh. Look out.
TJC has sat for most of the season at No. 3 in the NJCAA’s national poll behind top-ranked Hutchinson (Kansas, with a 9-0 record) and second-ranked Iowa Western (9-1, their only loss to Hutchinson, actually).
With a win today, the Apaches would have an 11-0 record, and assure themselves of a spot in the top four – and in the mini-tournament for the NJCAA national championship, where the No. 1 team faces No. 4, and the second and third-ranked teams face off.
From the NJCAA’s own website just this week: “The 2025 NJCAA DI Football Semifinals will consist of the top four seeded teams and will be played on Friday, December 5, 2025 at 7 p.m. (Eastern) and Saturday, December 6, 2025, at 7 p.m. (Eastern) on ESPN+. Locations will be determined based on No. 1 and No. 2 seed teams.”
In other words, teams seeded first and second (the top two ranked teams) will host the semifinals.
The national championship game will be played in Canyon, Texas at Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium on the West Texas A&M University campus.
But before thinking about ANY of that, the Apaches have to deal with NEO first, and that’s today.
TJC defeated NEO, 45-29, in the first meeting between the teams in the regular season, back on Saturday, Sept. 27. Tyler scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to blow open what was a close game for three quarters.
TJC had 22 first downs to NEO’s 21; Tyler had 362 yards of total offense – NEO had 366.
Tyler didn’t punt in the game at all.
Bryce Burgess ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns; Tre Guerra threw for 153 yards, two scores and an interception and Gentz Hilburn and Elijah Baesa each caught a touchdown.
To get here, both TJC and NEO had to win first-round playoff games. Tyler is the conference’s No. 1 seed, of course, and got to play at home; the Apaches defeated Cisco, 35-28 – Tyler actually led 35-0 in the game and had to weather a comeback by the Wranglers. NEO had to go on the road to beat Trinity Valley, and did so, 38-31.
The Apaches are averaging 33.2 points and 428.7 total yards a game. They are averaging 141 rush yards and 287 passing yards a game.
Defensively, they’re giving up just 17 points, 136 rushing yards and 162 passing yards a game.
For complete stats for this year’s TJC team, check out this link: 2025-26 Football Statistics – Tyler Junior College – Tyler Junior College.
NJCAA National Poll (November 17, 2025)
| Rank | Name | Region | Record | Points | First-place votes | Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College | 6 | 5-0 | 150 | 12 | 1 |
| 2 | Iowa Western Community College | 11 | 5-1 | 140 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Tyler Junior College | 14 | 6-0 | 130 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College | 23 | 6-0 | 120 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | Northwest Mississippi Community College | 23 | 5-1 | 103 | 0 | 7 |
| 6 | Georgia Military College | 17 | 6-1 | 98 | 0 | 6 |
| 7 | Garden City (Kan.) Community College | 6 | 5-1 | 94 | 0 | 8 |
| 8 | Trinity Valley Community College | 14 | 5-1 | 78 | 0 | 11 |
| 9 | Iowa Central Community College | 11 | 4-2 | 69 | 0 | 10 |
| 10 | Copiah-Lincoln (Miss.) Community College | 23 | 5-1 | 56 | 0 | 12 |
| 11 | Navarro College | 14 | 3-2 | 51 | 0 | 5 |
| 12 | Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College | 6 | 3-2 | 48 | 0 | 14 |
| 13 | Hinds Community College | 23 | 4-2 | 25 | 0 | 9 |
| 14 | Butler (Kan.) Community College | 6 | 3-1 | 17 | 0 | 15 |
| 15 | Jones (Miss.) College | 23 | 4-2 | 8 | 0 | N/A |
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