Rod Serling must of have passed through Corsicana during the heyday of the Twilight Zone, because the remnants of his visit lingers around the Navarro College football team.

The Bulldogs are 10-0 for the second year in a row and are following a similar path to next week’s Southwest Junior College Football Conference championship game.

The top-ranked Bulldogs raced to a big first-half lead and then had to withstand five turnovers in a 24-10 victory over Kilgore in the semifinals on Saturday at Tiger Stadium.

The win sets up a rematch with Blinn (9-1), which Navarro beat in the regular season finale last week to knock the Bucs from the nation’s top rung.

Blinn will visit Corsicana for the second time in three weeks next Sunday for a 3 p.m. championship tilt with the Bulldogs at Tiger Stadium. Blinn held off Tyler inside its 30 twice in the final five minutes for a 21-15 win in Brenham on Saturday. On the line when the teams meet for the fourth time in less than 12 months will be a bid for an opportunity to play for the national championship game.

In 2008, the Bulldogs built a big lead in the season’s last game and then had to withstand a furious Blinn rally, much like Navarro’s 23-20 win last week. The Bulldogs then committed seven turnovers in a semifinal win over Trinity Valley last year and in 2009 struggled with injuries and turnovers to turn back a determined Kilgore team for a two-touchdown win.

What Navarro coach Nick Bobeck hopes changes is what happens next Sunday. Blinn came to Corsicana a year ago, jumped on Navarro miscues and ended the Bulldogs’ season with a resounding 41-24 win.

“It is all eerily similar to last year,” Bobeck said after winning his 20th game in 21 starts as Navarro’s leader. “We’ve got to get ourselves refocused and ready to play.”

Playing without leading rusher Derrick Hall (hamstring), starting defensive tackle Lawrence Rumph (knee) and with offensive linemen Daniel Campbell and Robert Griffin hobbled during the game due to ankle injuries, Navarro had a chance to blow out Kilgore early in the third period.

But the Bulldogs lost fumbles at the Kilgore 4 and 19 and quarterback Roddy Green was intercepted in the end zone, all during the second half.

Fortunately, the Navarro defense was allowing little to Kilgore, save for a couple of big plays. The Rangers hit on an 89-yard scoring pass from Chase Fisher to Terrence Henry in the third period, cutting Navarro’s 24-3 halftime lead to two scores.

Other than another Fisher-to-Henry completion covering 43 yards, Kilgore’s offense was stalemated much of the game. The Rangers managed just 92 yards on the ground and three passers completed a combined 11 of 31 passes and were intercepted by five different Navarro defenders. Fisher completed 6 of 21 passes and was picked off four times.

The Rangers’ most productive drive came on their opening series when they march 16 plays to the Bulldog 10 for David Bailey’s 27-yard field goal.

Navarro, which had the ball seven plays in the first period, dominated the second quarter and put the game away. With Hall a gametime scratch after tweaking his hamstring during a late-week practice, the Bulldogs turned to steady DePauldrick Garrett. The redshirt freshman rushed for 181 yards on 33 carries and scored on second-quarter touchdowns of 1 and 13 yards, the latter behind the clearing block of backup guard Sherard Sorrells. Third-string back Brad Croak added a 12-yard scoring run for Navarro’s other first-half touchdown.

Navarro completed its scoring with 1:42 remaining in the second period when Juve Sanchez booted a 27-yard field goal. Sanchez’s effort was set up by a 43-yard pass play from Green to Croak sprung by David Grant’s block on the perimeter.

Green was more accurate than normal, completing 12 of 20 passes for 143 yards, but the freshman was intercepted twice, his first two of the season.

“We’ve been taking the same snaps we’ve been taking since we started practice and today Roddy didn’t look confident in what he was doing,” Bobeck said. “When that back foot hits on his drop, the ball needs to be coming out and he should not be waiting for the receivers to come out of their breaks. It’s about the coverage, not about the routes our guys are running.”

The missed opportunities including a blocked field goal in the final seconds of the first half left Bobeck concerned.

That had better change in Sunday’s rematch with Blinn, which is likely eager for a repeat performance of a year ago.

“It’s going to come down to our focusing on the important stuff that goes on during a game instead of all the extra-curricular activities going on,” Bobeck said. “This game should have ended completely different than it did. We cannot do this again to reach our goals.

“Last year’s game with Blinn should help us refocus, because our kids have a bad taste in their mouths after losing the way they did. They’ve got to play with intensity and focus on every play to beat Blinn again.”

--------

Navarro 24, Kilgore 10



Kilgore 3 0 7 0 — 10

Navarro 7 17 0 0 — 24



K: David Bailey 27 FG

N: Brad Croak 12 run (Juve Sanchez kick)

N: DePauldrick Garrett 1 run (Sanchez kick)

N: Garrett 13 run (Sanchez kick)

N: Sanchez 27 FG

K: Terrence Henry 89 pass from Chase Fisher (Bailey kick)



K N

Rushes-Yards 12 15

Passing Yards 28-92 51-265

Passes 11-31-5 12-20-2

Total Yards 304 408

Fumbles 0-0 2-2

Punts 6-38 4-42

Penalties 9-99 8-85



Individual Statistics

Rushing — Kilgore: Hans Cook 1-42, Zavor Jones 3-17, Liquor Lockhart 7-19, Calvin Stoker 5-25, Chase Fisher 1-(-16), Terrence Cannon -5. Navarro: Garrett 33-181, Green 10-50, Croak 8-34.

Passing — Kilgore: Cook 5-9-1-50, Fisher 6-21-4-162, Cannon 0-1-0-0. Navarro: Green 12-20-2-143.

Receiving — Kilgore: Chase Ford 2-10, Darius Perkins 2-15, Codie Cadenhead 1-17, Jarvin Robinson 2-13, Tyrone Nosworthy 2-21, Terrence Henry 3-136. N: Jahmai Coleman 4-4, J.J. Hayes 1-8, Garrett 1-6, Croak 1-43, Chase Harper 1-7, Josh Powdrill 2-25, Marcus Jackson 1-37, Kalen Jenkins 1-13.