JULIAN PAYNE

KILGORE — The Navarro Bulldogs were on the ropes after a mundane first half here Saturday, but the No. 3 ranked Kilgore College Rangers couldn’t deliver the knockout punch and Dane Jentsch made them pay.

Jentsch and the Bulldogs overcame a sloppy first half, scoring with just over a minute remaining to take the lead for the first time and holding on for a 24-20 win over the Rangers in Southwest Junior College Football Conference action at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium.

Navarro improves to 2-2 overall and 2-1 in the conference with its second straight road win. The Rangers drop to 3-1 and 2-1.

Jentsch drove the Bulldogs 65 yards in seven plays for the go-ahead touchdown, the key play being a 37-yard pass to a diving Bryan Spotwood that gave the Bulldogs a first-and-goal on the KC 5-yard line.

Kilgore’s defense forced a fourth-and-goal from the one and dropped Jentsch for a loss, but the Rangers were flagged for being offsides and Jentsch scored on the next play. Erik Acosta’s extra point put the Bulldogs on top 24-20 with 1:21 remaining, but the Rangers didn’t go quietly.

KC quarterback Cam Peters used his legs to convert a fourth-and-1, and Navarro was flagged for a facemask penalty on the play that gave Kilgore the ball at the Navarro 47-yard line. A 13-yard pass from Peters to Dominique Williams, plus an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Bulldogs, gave the Rangers the ball at the Navarro 13-yard line with 2.6 seconds left.

A pass in the end zone fell incomplete, and the Bulldogs held on for the improbable win.

Jentsch rushed for 40 yards and a touchdown and completed 19 of 27 passes for 277 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, but he did most of his damage in the second half.

Kilgore’s swarming defense held the Bulldogs to 52 total yards in the first 30 minutes of action, and the Rangers led 13-0 at the break after a Kaden Meredith 15-yard touchdown run on KC’s first drive of the game and a 12-yard TD pass from Peters to Joel Jamerson with just 17.5 seconds left in the second quarter.

The second TD came after Jermari Seals partially blocked a punt to give the Rangers the ball at the Navarro 24-yard line with 49 seconds left in the half.. Three plays later Peters hit a wide-open Jamerson for the TD, but the extra point failed and KC settled for a 13-0 cushion at intermission.

Navarro drove 80 yards in six plays to open the second half, scoring on a 28-yard pass from Jentsch to Braylon Finney.

The Bulldogs later got a 28-yard field goal by Acosta to pull to within three points (13-10), but the Ranger offense came alive and marched 89 yards in six plays — extending the lead on a 27-yard TD pass from Peters to Carter Rojas with 13:!4 left.

The Bulldogs again cut the deficit to three (20-17) on a Jentsch TD pass of 30 yards to Luke Ferguson, and Navarro won it on the 1-yard TD run by Jentsch late.

Meredith rushed for 53 yards on 15 carries for KC. Peters completed 15 of 32 passes for 238 yards and two scores, and Michael Phoenix led the KC receivers with three catches for 76 yards.

Spotwood finished with six catches for 101 yards for the Bulldogs.

Kilgore will travel to Cisco next week while Navarro plays host to Blinn.