The race is on for the Dirty 30 title

The Dirty 30 national title is up for grabs in 2016 and a number of programs are still in the hunt. Garden City clinched its first Jayhawk title in 15 years and is rising quickly.

It’s been a long time since the folks at Garden City can say they were in the hunt for a title but the Broncbusters cleared the final hurdle on Saturday with a resounding 36-7 win over Dodge City. Just 12 months ago they were 1-7 and (then) first year coach Jeff Sims was wondering what they would do next. Now he is sitting on top of the proud conference and has his team in a position to play for the big prize. As a result Garden City has moved up to No. 4 in the JCGridiron Dirty 30 Rankings with a handful of games left to play. This week they have a bye before hosting Iowa Central (0-8) and Fort Scott (3-4) to finish the regular season.

The new No. 2 is Riverside City College, who pummeled Los Angeles Harbor College 77-7 on Saturday night. The Tigers have been making a mess of the competition as of late and had 611 yards of offense in the win. Riverside has a couple of tough battles still to play but should cruise past El Camino College this week.

Trinity Valley clinched the Southwest Junior College Football Conference title with a 52-40 win over Kilgore this past weekend. The Cardinals moved up three spots to No. 6 in the rankings as a result. At 7-1, TVCC’s lone loss was a 30-29 cliffhanger at NEO in week three. They finish the conference schedule this Saturday at Cisco, which should be nothing more than a formality.

The big game in Southern California this past weekend was Saddleback hosting Fullerton in a battle of two top-15 teams. The outcome was exciting as Saddleback beat Fullerton 30-27 in the final minute, but the game was anything but a work of art. The two teams combined for 33 penalties, two of which cost Fullerton touchdowns in the final half. Saddleback jumped four spots to No. 10 with the win while Fullerton fell eight spots to No. 12. The Gauchos (6-1) have wins over No. 12 Fullerton, No. 13 Ventura and No. 21 Long Beach with three games remaining. They will travel to Grossmont this weekend. Fullerton’s biggest win of the year was over No. 14 Mt. San Antonio and they host Palomar this Saturday.

Up north, San Francisco flexed its muscles against previous top-10 Santa Rosa, beating the Bear Cubs 34-21. The Rams have beaten Diablo Valley and Santa Rosa in succession, grabbing the lead in the prestigious Bay 6 conference along with No. 44 San Mateo. The two teams square off this week in San Mateo. San Francisco (5-2) moved up to No. 16 in the rankings, with their two losses coming against No. 11 Butte and No. 15 Laney and a big win against No. 8 American River.

#31 Northeast Mississippi at #7 Northwest Mississippi (Th)
#51 Fresno City at #15 Laney (Fr)
#16 San Francisco at #44 San Mateo
#18 Coffeyville at #30 Dodge City
#24 Diablo Valley at #19 Santa Rosa
#20 Itawamba at #28 Holmes
#22 Tyler at #39 Kilgore
#33 New Mexico Military at #23 Navarro
#46 Chabot at #32 Modesto
#38 Blinn at #41 Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (Th)
#45 Siskiyous at #43 Sacramento City
#50 Golden West at #55 Orange Coast

The rest of the Dirty 30 Rankings follow. Just a reminder, the JCGridiron.com Dirty 30 Rankings do not recognize games against Club Teams or Prep Schools.

* = forfeited game