The East Mississippi College Lions captured their fourth JCGridiron.com Dirty 30 championship in 2018 by winning the NJCAA title and finishing 12-0. The Lions also won title outright in 2011 and 2014 and shared the title with Butte College (CA) in 2013.

EMCC was given a late chase by Ventura College, who played in the California state title game on Saturday. Ventura ended up losing to Laney College, 40-35, thus creating an easy decision for the decider-in-chief.

East Mississippi captured the NJCAA title 10 days ago with a 10-9 win against Garden City College. It was the fifth NJCAA title for the Lions in the past eight years. Garden City finished No. 2 in the rankings while California champion Laney finished No. 4 in the rankings.

Out west, Laney College held off Ventura College in an exciting finish in Sacramento on Saturday. The Eagles controlled the game from the outset, grabbing a 23-0 lead in the opening quarter and making it stick. Ventura rallied but couldn’t find a way to stop the potent rushing attack of the Eagles, who rolled up 288 yards rushing. John McDonald finished with 217 yards on the ground and picked up the game MVP while quarterback Jordan Brookshire picked his spots, rushing for two scores and passing for another three. Laney finished with a 41:46-to-18:14 advantage in time-of-possession, and if it weren’t for a few untimely penalties likely would have won by a much larger number.

On another note, I’m saddened to announce the passing of JUCO football in Arizona. It has been a great honor to cover the schools in Arizona for 14 years. Whether it was recent years with guys like Damien Williams (AWC) and Randy Gregory (AWC) or in the past with Mark Gastineau (EAC), the Arizona ranks have always been a great place for scouts to find next-level talent.

It’s really shameful to see the excuses coming out of the board rooms in Arizona. As some of us know, athletes from these schools graduate and a much better pace than the regular students at the school (that’s a fact, BTW). At the end of the day, I was under the impression that was the purpose of the community college. Get the students, prepare them for life and ship them off to their next destination.

Nothing can bring a community together like football. Wake me up the next time the Musical Theatre Department or Fashion Club draws 1,500 people on a Saturday night. Don’t get me wrong, I like my theatre and fashion. I’ve had tickets for years to the local theatre and can appreciate a great performance. However, I’d like to see the long list of success stories coming out of these schools in other areas if they are going to justify cutting football. If someone wants to do the homework, I’ll be more than happy to publish it. In the meantime, I’d like to congratulate all of the people involved at those schools that gave it everything they had to coach, promote and provide for those students. You are the selfless heroes who gave up your lives to prepare and promote others. . The world could use a few more of you.

The rest of the Dirty 30 Rankings follow. Just a reminder, the Dirty 30 Rankings do not include games against prep schools or non-affiliated programs in the team records.