KC-TJC, IT’S ALL ON THE LINE | Rangers, Apaches playoff game today at 3 p.m., winner to the conference title game / Ticket & streaming info inside
Kilgore College’s quest for a third consecutive Southwest Junior College Football Conference championship began in the summer.
It comes full circle today.
The Kilgore College Rangers (6-3), the fourth seed of four teams in the conference playoffs, heads back to CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium in Tyler today to face No. 1 seed Tyler Junior College (6-3), a 3 p.m. kickoff, one of two conference semifinals today.
For there to be a “football tomorrow,” KC must win today. Otherwise, the season is over.
Here is some very important information.
Tickets need to be purchased online at www.apacheathletics.com/tickets.
Hear live audio of the game, by Manny Almanza and a partner, on KTBB 97.5-FM, or online at www.ktbb.com/liveaudio.
A livestream video link: Tyler Junior College vs Kilgore College-SWJCFC Playoffs.
A win would eliminate TJC, and send the Rangers to play at either Cisco or Navarro next Saturday in the SWJCFC Championship Game. Those two programs meet today at 3 in Corsicana.
KC could’ve wrapped up the second seed and have been hosting a playoff today rather than going to Tyler, but that was lost with a loss at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in Miami, Okla., last Saturday. Ancient history now, a moot point. The opportunity is today in Tyler.
The Apaches come in with at least a little confidence they can get it done: they upset Kilgore College at Rose back on Oct. 26, a 16-13 win on a walk-off field goal as time expired by Tyler native Christian Baxter.
That was TJC’s first regular season win over the Rangers since 2017.
Tyler has three losses, but the Apaches’ only conference loss came on Nov. 2 to Navarro, in Corsicana. The Apaches opened the season with non-conference losses to Dodge City (Kan.) and to Georgia Military, then won six straight before dropping the game at Navarro last week in the regular season finale for both programs.
The Apaches, coached by Tanner Jacobson, is averaging right at 20 points per game – low for this conference – and 334 yards a game, a very-balanced 166 rushing yards and 167 passing yards per contest. The Apaches are giving up an average of 17 points per game,
They’ve got 3,007 total yards of offense this year, and how about this stat: they’re 9-of-18 on fourth-down conversion attempts, 50 percent. That’s pretty impressive.
Defensively, they don’t have many turnovers to their credit: just 13 (eight interceptions and five fumble recoveries). They do get to the opposing quarterback, though: 44 combined sacks for the defense in 2024.
TJC has played three quarterbacks this year: redshirt freshman Nathan Greek, and redshirt sophomores Tre Guerra and Josh Thomas. Greek is 66-of-115 for 747 yards, four touchdowns and three picks – Guerra is 39-of-64 for 473 yards and a TD, and Thomas, 28-of-58 for 241 yards, two INTs and a touchdown pass.
Cam Thomas leads TJC in catches: 28, for 188 yards and a score. Grant Peretz has 18 catches for 235 yards and a TD. Somewhat oddly, no player has more than one touchdown catch for the Apaches.
TJC has ran for 1,502 yards as an offense this year, and scored 11 rushing touchdowns. Bryce Burgess and Lavarion Logan are their leading rushers – Burgess has 556 yards and four scores on 103 carries, averaging right at 5.4 yards a carry, and Logan has 468 yards on 75 carries, an average of 6.2 yards a carry, and has also scored four times.
Baxter on the season has kicked just three field goals – he’s 2-of-3, and his long is 37 yards. He’s kicked only five extra points, and hit all five. Another kicker, freshman Bryan Ramirez, has hit both extra points he’s kicked. Ramirez is also the Apaches’ punter, and has punted 35 times this season, an average of just over 42 per punt, and a long of 61. TJC has downed 10 of those 35 punts inside the 20-yard-line.
Darion White leads the Apaches in tackles (103) and has 4 ½ sacks, 11 tackles for loss, and two interceptions and two fumble recoveries.
William Cornelson has 101 stops, 17 ½ for loss, and leads the team with 7 ½ sacks.
As for Kilgore College’s Rangers, they’re led by the incomparable Willie Gooden, the former walk-on, former assistant coach and current head coach in his sixth season. And in that time, it feels like all the Rangers have done is win.
They’ve been conference champions the last two seasons, as mentioned, and are two wins away from winning a third straight, something KC’s program has done once before, from 1980-1982, one of those being a shared title.
The Rangers opened the season in what feels like just a few days ago, but was August 27 at home against Mexico program Monterrey Tech, a 27-9 win at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium.
They beat New Mexico Military Institute, 40-30, in the conference opener on Sept. 14, then took down Navarro on the road, 23-13.
Cisco slipped up on the Rangers and defeated them in a KC home game, 35-30, on Sept. 28. After an open date, the Rangers routed non-conference Christian Community College (Lafayette, La.), 63-0 in the annual KC Hall of Fame Game.
They avoided a trap on Oct. 19 with a 26-13 win in Athens over longtime rival Trinity Valley, but couldn’t escape Baxter’s walk-off field goal the following week, the loss at Rose Stadium on Oct. 26.
KC defeated Blinn, 22-14, in the Rangers’ homecoming on Nov. 2, but were tripped up at NEO in a long road trip, a 20-10 final.
That brings us to today, a must-win situation for both teams.
KC is averaging 28.2 points and 298 total yards a game; that total has came down in recent weeks, with the losses at TJC and at NEO. They’re only allowing 16.7 points and 243 yards a game, defensively.
The Rangers are just 37-of-95 in third-down conversions, only 39 percent, but are slightly better than TJC in fourth-down conversions: 7-of-12, 58 percent.
They’ve been excellent in the kick and punt return games, and average 34.7 yards a kick return, and the defense has been good at producing turnovers. They have 10 interceptions, and have recovered nine fumbles.
Like TJC, three quarterbacks have had action for the Rangers this season: sophomore Tyler Webb and freshmen Seth Mouser and Jahrik Jones. Jones has started the last few games, and is 9-of-27 for just 73 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Webb has been the starter for most of the year, and is 84-of-156 for 1,048 yards, nine touchdowns, but six interceptions. Mouser: he’s 9-of-19 for 195 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.
On the other end of those passes: a great group of receivers, as usual, for coach Gooden. Samuel Mbake has 17 catches for 233 yards and a touchdown, and Devontae Mozee, 15 for 288 yards and four scores.
Tanner Harrison has 14 for 241 yards and a pair of TDs, and Melvin Polk,m 14 for 184 yards and a score.
Running back Gary Maddox and tight end Ashtin Watkins also get involved in the passing game: Maddox has nine catches for 55 yards and Watkins, seven for 150, and two scores.
Maddox leads all rushers with 370 yards and six touchdowns. Luke McMullen has 215 yards and two TDs, and Jones, 156 yards and also has two touchdowns. As an offense, KC has rushed for 1,371 yards and 14 touchdowns, and averages 4.9 yards a carry.
Two kickers have handled placekicking duties for the Rangers: Kilgore’s Adan Reyes, and Longview’s Anthony Monsivais. Reyes is 10-of-13 in field goal attempts, a long of 43 yards, and Monsivais, 4-of-6, and his long is also 43.
Neither kicker has missed an extra point this year: Reyes is 27-of-27, and Monsivais has hit all six he’s kicked.
Monsivais doubles as the punter, and has punted 33 times this season, an average of 35.2 yards a kick, and landed 11 inside the 20.
Defensively, the Rangers are led in tackles by defensive lineman Izeal Jones, a sophomore with 4 ½ tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries on the season.
Marcus Moultrie, a defensive back, has 76 tackles, an interception and a sack.
The Rangers have 38 sacks this season, led by sophomore defensive lineman Christian Thomas’s six.
Sophomore defensive back Jaylen Webb? Don’t throw his way. He leads the team with five interceptions, half of the team’s interception total.