'Hounds No. 3 in NJCAA pre-season poll

Thursday, July 29, 2010

The Fort Scott Community College football team will begin the 2010 season at the No. 3 spot in the NJCAA Top 25 college football rankings, which were released Wednesday.

The Greyhounds come off an 11-1 season and a final No. 2 national ranking in 2009, narrowly losing the Citizens Bank Bowl to Blinn (Texas), 31-26. FSCC went into the game ranked No. 1 but then-No. 2 Blinn rallied in the fourth quarter to claim the NJCAA national championship.

Fort Scott will have to rebuild once again with only one starter returning on both sides of the football. Fourth-year Head Coach Jeff Sims, who has 29-6 overall record at FSCC, understands that rebuilding or reloading -- whichever one prefers to call it -- is the nature of the beast when it comes to junior college football.

"Each year is its own year at this level," Sims says, "We will be a completely different team this year with some different coaches and only a few experienced players from last year's squad. It will be a challenge."

Defending champ Blinn was picked as the No. 1 team followed by Arizona Western in the No. 2 spot. Navarro (Texas) and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College round out the top five.

Fort Scott and Blinn will start the 2010 season with a rematch of the 2009 NJCAA national championship football game when the 'Hounds travel to Brenham, Texas, to take on the Buccaneers on August 28th. Game time is set for 3 p.m.

Three other Jayhawk Conference teams made the preseason top 25. Butler is No. 6, Hutchinson is No. 11, and Coffeyville is No. 18.

Fort Scott will host Butler in the second week of the season, facing the Grizzlies at home on Sept. 4 at Frary Field.

Butler opens the Jayhawk Conference season by facing Navarro at Wichita's Cessna Stadium on Aug. 26.


NOTES -- The Jayhawk Conference Pre-Season Football Media Conference is scheduled for this afternoon in Wichita....

The first week of the season features the annual challenge between the Jayhawk Conference and the Southwest Junior College Football Conference. In addition to the Fort Scott-Blinn and Navarro-Butler games, Coffeyville hosts No. 14 Tyler, Hutchinson travels to Kilgore, Independence goes to Trinity Valley and Northeastern Oklahoma visits Garden City. With Arkansas Baptist dropping out of the SWJCFC, Highland will travel to No. 12 Iowa Central that weekend. Iowa Central needed an opponent after former Midwest Football Conference school Rock Valley dropped football at the end of last season....


The Pre-Season Picks

Three major pre-season polls have Fort Scott Community College in their top 10. Here is a look at each

BOLD indicates team on Fort Scott's schedule

NJCAA

1. Blinn, Texas

2. Arizona Western

3. FORT SCOTT

4. Navarro, Texas

5. Mississippi Gulf Coast

6. Butler

7. East Mississippi

8. Snow, Utah

9. Ellsworth, Iowa

10. Grand Rapids, Mich.

11. Hutchinson

12. Iowa Central

13. Pearl River, Miss.

14. Tyler, Texas

15. Dean, Mass

16. Eastern Arizona

17. Georgia Military

18. Coffeyville

19. Jones County, Miss.

20. Rochester Tech, Minn.

21. Lackawanna, Pa.

22. Northwest Mississippi

23. Iowa Western

24. Central Lakes, Minn.

25. Coahoma, Miss.

JCGridiron.com

1. Arizona Western

2. Blinn, Texas

3. El Camino, Calif.

4. East Mississippi

5. San Francisco

6. Fort Scott

7. Mount San Antonio, Calif.

8. Navarro, Texas

9. Fullerton, Calif.

10. Mississppi Gulf Coast

11. Butler

12. Coffeyville

13. Saddleback, Calif.

14. Palomar, Calif.

15. San Mateo, Calif.

16. Snow, Utah

17. Bakersfield, Calif.

18. Grand Rapids, Mich.

19. Cerritos, Calif.

20. Grossmont, Calif.

21. Butte, Calif.

22. Pearl River, Miss.

23. Georgia Military

24. Canyons, Calif.

25. Tyler, Texas

26. Iowa Western

27. Reedley, Calif.

28. Riverside, Calif.

29. Ellsworth, Iowa

30. Hutchinson

The Sporting News

1. FORT SCOTT

2. Butte, Calif.

3. Blinn, Texas

4. San Mateo, Calif.

5. Butler

6. Navarro, Texas

7. Mississippi Gulf Coast

8. Snow, Utah

9. San Francisco

10. Cerritos, Calif.

11. Arizona Western

12. Mount San Antonio

13. Grand Rapids, Mich.

14. Fullerton, Calif.

15. Tyler, Texas

16. Canyons, Calif.

17. East Mississippi

18. Grossmont, Calif.

19. Ellsworth, Iowa

20. Fresno, Calif.

21. Georgia Military

22. El Camino, Calif.

23. Bakersfield, Calif.

24. Saddleback, Calif.

25 (tie). Lackawanna, Pa.

25 (tie). Foothill, Calif.

NOTES

The NJCAA will rank only 20 teams during the regular season.

The JCGridiron.com and Sporting News polls include California colleges, which are not members of the NJCAA.

The Sporting News does not conduct a poll during the regular season.