NMMI wins NJCAA title in final battle

The 2021 season came to a close on Friday with New Mexico Military defeating Iowa Western, 31-13, in the NJCAA Championship Game. The Broncos finished 12-1 to end up No. 2 in the Final JCGridiron Dirty 30 Rankings.

It was a sensational run for New Mexico Military and the best finish they have ever had in the Dirty 30. The Broncos received 192 yards rushing and a pair scores from Anthony Grant in cruising to a win. New Mexico Military led 31-0 at one point during the third quarter after Grant took a pass from Diego Pavia and went four yards for a score on the Broncos’ first drive of the second half. It was the first NJCAA title in football for NMMI in program history.

New Mexico Military finished No. 2 in the JCGridiron Dirty 30 Rankings, behind City College of San Francisco. CCSF finished 13-0 overall, defeating Riverside City College in the CCCAA state title game a week earlier. The Rams hammered opponents 562-159 in 2021, outscoring them by 31 points-per-game. They won three games against top-10 opponents in the final four weeks and nine games against programs that appeared in the Dirty 30 Rankings at some point during the course of the season.

The loss by New Mexico Military against Cisco in week seven (19-38) was a major factor in them finishing second to CCSF. That, and two wins against HJCAC teams didn’t bolster their resume. New Mexico Military finished with four wins against final top-30 teams and six against programs that appeared in the top-30 at one point during the course of the season.

For San Francisco, it was the second Dirty 30 title in the past seven seasons as the Rams also won the title in 2015. San Francisco became the fifth school in the country to capture multiple Dirty 30 national titles in the 17-year history of the rankings. They joined Mt. San Antonio College, Butte College, East Mississippi College and Iowa Western College in accomplishing the feat. East Mississippi is the lone program to win more than two Dirty 30 titles, capturing four. East Mississippi and Mt. San Antonio are the lone programs to capture back-to-back Dirty 30 titles.

The title for CCSF was the eighth national title for schools from California out of the 20 handed out, as co-championships were given in 2016, 2013 and 2007.

The final rankings and Dirty 30 History are listed below. 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.