Media poll

While the Southwest Junior College Football Conference’s season was postponed until the spring, the league still released the preseason forecast on Thursday.

Kilgore College, the defending regular season champion, is the pick by both the media and coaches to capture the conference championship. Navarro College, which won the league title with a 36-35 win over New Mexico Military Institute in the title game, is picked to finish second in the media poll, while Trinity Valley Community is slated to be the runner-up selection in the coaches poll.

The league’s annual media day was scheduled for Thursday at Garden Valley Golf & Resort in Lindale, but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the conference released preseason polls.

The Rangers earned four first-place votes and a total of 52 points in the coaches poll, with Trinity Valley next with 43 points, but no first-place votes. Navarro is third with one first-place vote and 38 points. Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and NMMI each received one first-place vote. The Golden Norsemen are fourth with 32 points, followed by the Broncos with 30 points. Blinn College (29 points) is sixth, followed by Tyler Junior College in seventh with 18 points. Cisco College is eighth with 11 points.

In the media poll, the Rangers had 52 points and three first-place votes, with Navarro earning the second spot with two first-place votes with 45 points. TVCC (44 points) and Blinn (40) each got one top pick and are third and fourth, respectively. Rounding out the poll are NEO (23), Tyler (20), NMMI (20) and Cisco (8).

The Apaches and the other junior colleges were scheduled to kickoff in late August, but National Junior College Athletic Association guidelines released earlier this month pushed the season to the spring.

Instead of TJC playing at KC on Aug. 22, the teams will now play in the spring.

Under the NJCAA Presidential Advisory Council’s proposal, football practice will begin on March 1, 2021, with games starting on March 25. There will be a maximum of eight games allowed, with play wrapping up by May 22 and the NJCAA championship held on June 3. There will be a discussion at a later date about any additional bowl games.

The SWJCFC has eight teams and thus must decide about the regular season and playoffs, Dr. Tim Drain, TJC’s Associate Vice Provost-Student Affairs, said. In most seasons, 11 games are allowed.

The schools must notify the NJCAA by July 27 if they to play in the spring. After determining the number of teams that will participate, Drain said the conference will meet to draw up a schedule.

This fall, schools will be allowed 60 consecutive calendar days for football practices and scrimmages between Aug. 15 and Nov. 15, with three scrimmages allowed against outside competition if they feel it’s safe.

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