Forty-five minutes after Kilgore’s 42-17 loss to Navarro in September, its players were grouped by position across R.E. St. John Stadium.

Some were on one knee, others had helmets in hand and their heads down. In the middle of each group was a very animated coach.

A week later, the Rangers played better but lost to then-No. 1 ranked Blinn, 31-21. Then a quarterback change and defensive alterations began to kick in and Kilgore won four of its last five to secure the final Southwest Junior College Football Conference playoff position.

Is the Rangers’ resurgence enough to upset No. 1 Navarro on Saturday at Tiger Stadium in the SWJCFC semifinals?

Navarro Coach is impressed by Kilgore’s newfound winning ways, yet he’s confident his Bulldogs can move to 10-0.

“Kilgore has got some confidence about them now,” Bobeck said. “They feel good about themselves by winning four of the last five. You can tell they have some confidence in what they are doing.”

After the sluggish four-game start in which it was outscored by an average of more than 14 points per game, Kilgore has been explosive on offense and deadly in defense. The offense is averaging 39.9 points in the last five contests and is yielding only 22 points per outing.

The most impressive improvement is on the offensive side, where Hans Cook took over the starting quarterback job five weeks ago and has engineered the Rangers to 415.4 yards per game, up more than 100 yards than the first four starts.

Cook is an adept runner (437 yards, two TDs rushing) and efficient passer (70.3 percent completions, 673 yards, six TDs).

“He’s a powerful, tough kid who they use quite effectively running the ball,” Bobeck said.

“(Coach J.J.) Eckert is good at finding a weakness and attacking it. They will throw out a lot of formations and will pull a lot of tricks out on you if you are not lined up properly. You’d better be prepared against them or they can score with big plays.”

Navarro had its share of big plays in last week’s 23-20 showdown win over top-ranked Blinn. Navarro’s offense was led the whole way by quarterback Roddy Green, who completed less than 50 percent of his passes but did throw two touchdown passes. Expect Green to start again this week, but Brant Costilla will be ready if he falters.

“We knew going in that we were going to trot out Roddy and we’re going to stay with him,” Bobeck said. “If he didn’t have the drops by receivers, then he could have thrown for 300 yards and a couple of more touchdowns. When we had breakdowns in our protection, Roddy got us out of some trouble with his feet.

“We’re going to be better prepared for Kilgore’s defense this time, but we’ll be doing it without (injured) Milton (Howell), which is going to alter how we go about things on offense. We cannot put our young quarterbacks in the same position we put Milton in simply because they don’t have the experience. But we’re going to put them in a position to excel.”

Bobeck is somewhat concerned about a Blinn hangover, but he said he believes his team has the proper focus entering the postseason.

“When there have been so many expectations on the kids and it culminated in the top two teams in the nation, you have to be a little worried they won’t keep that focus,” he said. “But for the next two weeks, we’re going to be playing teams we’ve beaten already this season and they are going to have confidence.

“Kilgore has gained confidence this season and you have to give a lot of credit to J.J. and his staff for getting their team winning big games. But we’ve been winning big games all this season. I think we’re going to be ready to go Saturday afternoon. This is the biggest time of the year and our kids know it.”

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NJCAA Top 10

The NJCAA Top 10 National Poll as of Nov. 4:



1.Navarro (9-0)

2. Fort Scott (Kan.) (9-0)

3. Mississippi Gulf Coast (9-1)

4. Blinn (8-1)

5. Snow (Utah) College (9-1)

6. Grand Rapids (Mich.) (9-0) 

7. East Mississippi (9-1)

8. Butler (Kan. (7-2)

9. Arizona Western (7-1)

10. Rochester (Minn.) (10-0)