RCC makes its case

The 2023 season has one more game this week when Iowa Western and East Mississippi battle for the NJCAA title on Wednesday night in Arkansas. Riverside City made its claim out west by defeating the defending national champions from San Mateo.

For the moment, Riverside City has jumped into the top spot in the JCGridiron Dirty 30 Rankings after a 24-21 victory over San Mateo on Saturday in Riverside. The Tigers received a 23-yard field goal at the buzzer in claiming revenge for a disastrous ending in San Mateo a season ago. RCC had a tenacious rushing attack that rolled up 221 yards on the afternoon, led by quarterback Jordan Barton.

Riverside City finishes the season 12-1, with the lone blemish being a 17-16 setback in the final minute against No. 10 Fullerton four weeks earlier. The Tigers finished with six wins against programs that finished in the top-25 in the Dirty 30 Rankings, with another win against a program on the bubble. RCC last won the JCGridiron Dirty 30 national title in 2019.

Iowa Western comes in at No. 2 in the rankings and will face No. 3 East Mississippi for the NJCAA title on Wednesday. The Reivers and Lions are no strangers to championship games, as Iowa Western has won two Dirty 30 titles and East Mississippi has won four.

Iowa Western comes in with an 11-1 record and has beaten four teams in the top-25 and six programs listed in the top-30 or on the bubble. The lone loss for the Reivers came in the last week of the regular season when they fell to Hutchinson in a battle to see who would be the top seed for the NJCAA Final Four.

East Mississippi has been red hot in recent months, claiming the prestigious Mississippi state title and then defeating (then) top-ranked Hutchinson squad in the NJCAA semifinals. The Lions had losses to No. 8 Copiah-Lincoln and No. 13 Gulf Coast in the opening month of the season, but have since rattled off eight straight wins. EMCC has seven wins against programs in the top-30 and got revenge against both Co-Lin and Gulf Coast in the Mississippi playoffs. A win against Iowa Western would mean four straight wins against programs ranked in the top-15.

The JCGridiron Dirty 30 National Champion will be announced on Thursday morning.

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.

DIRTY 30 RANKINGS

Dirty 30 Rankings (12/11/23)

Others on the Bubble: Butler (KS) 5-5, Chaffey (CA) 11-0, Foothill (CA) 11-0, Georgia Military 5-4, Lackawanna (PA) 6-3, San Diego Mesa (CA) 7-4, Rochester (MN) 8-3, East Los Angeles (CA) 7-4, East Central (MS) 4-5, North Dakota SCS 7-3, Contra Costa (CA) 6-5, New Mexico Military 5-6, Allan Hancock (CA) 6-5, Cerritos (CA) 5-5, Fresno City (CA) 6-5

No	School	City	Rcd	Next

1	Riverside City	Riverside, CA	12-1	Finished
2	Iowa Western	Council Bluffs, IA	11-1	v #3 EMCC (WED)
3	East Mississippi	Scooba, MS	10-2	v #2 IWCC (WED)
4	San Mateo	San Mateo, CA	11-2	Finished
5	Hutchinson	Hutchinson, Kansas	10-1	Finished
6	American River	Sacramento, CA	10-2	Finished
7	Mt. San Antonio	Walnut, CA	10-1	Finished
8	Copiah-Lincoln	Wesson, MS	10-2	Finished
9	Kilgore	Kilgore, TX	9-2	Finished
10	Fullerton	Fullerton, CA	10-1	Finished
11	San Francisco	San Francisco, CA	9-2	Finished
12	Butte	Oroville, CA	9-2	Finished
13	Gulf Coast	Perkinston, MS	8-2	Finished
14	Dodge City	Dodge City, KS	8-3	Finished
15	Northwest	Senatobia, MS	7-3	Finished
16	Iowa Central	Fort Dodge, IA	7-4	Finished
17	Trinity Valley	Athens, TX	6-3	Finished
18	DuPage	Glen Ellyn, IL	10-1	Finished
19	Northeast	Booneville, MS	6-3	Finished
20	Ventura	Ventura, CA	8-4	Finished
21	Jones	Ellisville, MS	6-3	Finished
22	Snow	Ephraim, UT	6-3	Finished
23	El Camino	Torrance, CA	7-4	Finished
24	Golden West	Hnt. Bch., CA	8-3	Finished
25	Navarro	Corsicana, TX	6-5	Finished
26	Tyler	Tyler, TX	5-4	Finished
27	Modesto	Modesto, CA	7-4	Finished
28	Holmes	Goodman, MS	6-3	Finished
29	Citrus	Glendora, CA	8-3	Finished
30	Reedley	Reedley, CA	7-4	Finished