The long awaited match-up between the top two teams in the country turned out to truly be a battle with No. 2 Navarro College coming away with a hard-fought 23-20 victory over No. 1 Blinn College.
Navarro got off to an impressive start scoring on a 51-yard Derrick Hall run on its first possession and then capitalizing on a Cam Newton fumble to go up 14-0 on a 24-yard pass from Roddy Green to Jahmai Coleman. Blinn’s defense though was able to hold the Bulldogs to just three more points in the half.
The Buccaneers’ only scoring drive in the first half concluded with a one-yard burst up the middle by Mike Hayes. Following a Navarro field goal, Newton went down with a minor injury and the half ended 17-7.
After a scoreless third, the fourth quarter turned ugly on this Halloween with personal fouls mounting on both sides. The Bulldogs scored on a 23-yard strike from Green to Jefferson Hayes to go up 23-7 and Blinn blocked the extra point. The Bucs responded with a Newton-to-Darrin Moore connection for 25 yards. The two-point conversion failed.
A rejuvenated Buccaneer team sliced the lead even more with 5:39 left in the game when Newton hit Jared Jaroszewski from 25 yards out to make it 23-20. The Buc defense rose to the occasion forcing Navarro to punt with 3:56 left. Then it got even crazier with the Bulldogs’ Reggie Dunigan intercepting Newton only to have his team turn it right back to the Bucs on a fumble that Blinn’s Jonathon Mathis recovered on his own seven yard line. Four downs proved fruitless and Navarro took over in the red zone satisfied to run out the clock and stay undefeated.
The Bucs suffered their first loss of the season and will host Tyler Junior College at 2 p.m. next Saturday in round one of the SWJCFC playoffs with the possibility of a rematch with Navarro in two weeks for the conference title.
