Golden West making a case

The playoffs have started out west and the Golden State has narrowed its list to a final four after four games this past weekend. All four teams appear in the top-10 of the JCGridiron Dirty 30 Rankings.

Golden West is one of the great feel-good stories of the year. The Rustlers defeated a good Canyons team, 20-10, this past weekend to advance to the Southern California Regional Finals. Golden West rose to No. 6 in the rankings and will face No. 10 Riverside City College, who stunned Ventura, 41-21, on Saturday night. The teams met earlier in the season with Golden West rolling up 456 yards in a 37-20 win. Golden West has been sensational on defense all season and forced eight turnovers on Saturday. Codie Saovao had three interceptions of his own, bringing his season total to five. Riverside City jumped out to a 31-7 halftime lead on Ventura and led 41-7 after three quarters in stunning the previous No. 3 Pirates.

The Northern California playoffs had no surprises as No. 1 San Francisco and No. 3 San Mateo advanced to the finals where they will face one-another. San Francisco held American River to 290 yards of offense while Jack Newman continued to impress at quarterback, finishing 21-of-31 for 299 yards and two touchdown passes. San Mateo rode the hot hand of Luke Bottari (four TD passes) and had close to 400 yards of offense in cruising past Fresno City.

The NJCAA playoffs will start this weekend as No. 7 Snow will visit No. 2 Iowa Western on Saturday and No. 4 Northwest will travel to No. 5 New Mexico Military on Sunday. Iowa Western won at Snow (17-14) earlier in the season, giving the Badgers their only loss. Northwest battled back from a 3-2 start to the season, winning six games and a prestigious Mississippi title. New Mexico Military had one hick-up during the season in winning both the regular season and SWJCFC tournament, falling to Cisco 38-19 in late October. The winners of the two games will play on December 17 in Arkansas for the NJCAA title.

The rest of the Dirty 30 Rankings follow. Just a reminder, the Dirty 30 Rankings do not include games against club teams, prep schools, non-CCCAA, non-NJCAA or non-HJCAC programs in its rankings.

In the rankings you will notice a number of characters next to the records, which indicate wins by forfeit. Due to COVID-19, a lot of games were forfeited in California due to stricter COVID-19 protocols and scheduling conflicts.

JCGridiron Dirty 30 Rankings (11/29/21)

Others on the Bubble: DuPage (IL) 6-2, American River (CA) 6-5, Fullerton (CA) 6-5 ^, Tyler (TX) 5-5, Reedley (CA) 7-3, Feather River (CA) 10-0, Palomar (CA) 5-5, Trinity Valley (TX) 5-4, Contra Costa (CA) 8-1, El Camino (CA) 7-4 %, Georgia Military 5-5, Itasca (MN) 9-1, Laney (CA) 6-4, Delta (MS) 4-5, Long Beach City (CA) 4-6, Nassau (NY) 5-3, North Dakota SCS 9-1, Sierra (CA) 6-4 +, Saddleback (CA) 4-6, East Los Angeles (CA) 5-6. CLARIFICATIONS: & = forfeit win vs Butler, # = forfeit win vs Mt. San Jacinto, ^ = forfeit win vs Santa Ana, % = forfeit win vs Bakersfield, ! = forfeit win vs Allan Hancock, @ = forfeit win vs Long Beach City

No	Team	City	Rcd	Next

1	San Francisco	San Francisco, CA	11-0	v #3 San Mateo
2	Iowa Western	Council Bluffs, IA	8-0	v #7 Snow
3	San Mateo	San Mateo, CA	10-1	@ #1 San Francisco
4	Northwest	Senatobia, MS	9-2	@ #5 NMMI (SU)
5	New Mexico Military	Roswell, NM	10-1	v #4 Northwest (SU)
6	Golden West	Huntington Beach, CA	11-0 %	v #10 Riverside City
7	Snow	Ephraim, UT	5-1	@ #2 Iowa Western
8	East Mississippi	Scooba, MS	9-1	Finished
9	Hutchinson	Hutchinson, KS	8-2 &	v #13 Hinds
10	Riverside City	Riverside, CA	9-2 #	@ #6 Golden West
11	Ventura	Ventura, CA	10-1	Finished
12	Jones	Ellisville, MS	8-2	Finished
13	Hinds	Raymond, MS	8-3	v #9 Hutchinson
14	Iowa Central	Fort Dodge, IA	6-2	v #17 Monroe
15	Gulf Coast	Perkinston, MS	7-2	Finished
16	Garden City	Garden City, KS	7-3 &	v #27 Navarro
17	Monroe	New Rochelle, NY	6-0	v #14 Iowa Central
18	Coffeyville	Coffeyville, KS	7-2	v #34 Tyler
19	Independence	Independence, KS	7-2	Finished
20	Lackawanna	Scranton, PA	5-3	Finished
21	Canyons	Santa Clarita, CA	8-3 @	Finished
22	Fresno City	Fresno, CA	8-3	Finished
23	Modesto	Modesto, CA	7-3	v #24 Diablo Valley
24	Diablo Valley	Pleasant Hill, CA	6-4	@ #23 Modesto
25	Kilgore	Kilgore, TX	5-5	Finished
26	Mt. San Antonio	Walnut, CA	8-3 !	Finished
27	Navarro	Corsicana, TX	5-4	v #16 Garden City
28	Cerritos	Cerritos, CA	6-5	Finished
29	Butte	Oroville, CA	6-4	v #35 Reedley
30	San Diego Mesa	San Diego, CA	7-4	Finished