Very similar opponents to face off in Arizona

MESA, Ariz. -- Fort Scott Community College first-year coach Jeff Sims came out of a local steakhouse Thursday afternoon into cloudy skies with 72-degree temperatures and almost sounded as though he was never going home.

"Where else would you want to go?" Sims said, after preparing his club for Saturday's Valley of the Sun Bowl against No. 8-ranked Mesa Community College. "If you get to choose, I don't know why this (bowl) wouldn't be the first one you'd choose. To us, this is a great trip. They have great teams down here every year. There are 100 reasons we'd prefer to come down here. This is the Fiesta Bowl of junior college bowl games."

Having a team from Kansas' Jayhawk Conference is nothing new, but No. 9 Fort Scott is making its first appearance here since 1992 when it lost to Glendale, 29-23. Glendale is the usual recipient of the bowl berth, having hosted the game 15 times since the bowl's inception in 1981.

One Valley of the Sun Bowl bid goes to the best of the four Maricopa County schools in the Western States Football League. Mesa defeated Glendale, 31-17, on Nov. 3 for this year's berth, its fifth and first since 1998.

The two teams are remarkably similar. Both teams have rebounded nicely from recent poor seasons and both have fallen to one of the two teams playing for the National Junior College Athletic Associaton's national title game Saturday in the Zions Bank Top of the Mountain Bowl between No.2 Butler and No.1 Snow, Utah, at Salt Lake City.

Both teams finished in second place in their respective conferences. Both teams can mix the run with the pass with several high-profile players. And each team has 13 players listed as receiving post-season honors in their respective conference's with one from each that has received a player-of-the-year honor.

"They're almost a mirror-image of what we do," said Mesa coach Dan Dunn, who guided the Thunderbirds to an 8-2 record, one year after he suffered his worst showing of his five-year coaching career at Mesa with a 2-7 record.

Fort Scott has rebounded nicely after what had been a 22-game losing streak with consecutive bowl-appearance seasons.

"This is new success," Sims said. "We haven't been very successful, recently."

Fort Scott, 9-2, has lost only to Butler this season. Quarterback Greg Cross (2,564 yards of total offense) is the Region VI Offensive Player of the Year and likes to throw to wideout Nick Adams (745 yards, seven TDs). Cross will have running back Rodney Lovett (1,342 yards, 12 touchdowns) to hand the ball to. The Greyhounds were the top offensive team in Region VI with an average of 370 yards per game.

The 'Hounds were also second in Region VI in scoring offense (27.0 ppg). They ranked fifth in total defense (287.1 ypg) and third in scoring defense (18.8 ppg).

On the other side of the football, linebacker Matt Glades and Lucien Antoine lead the defense ranking second and third in the region with 113 and 112 tackles, respectively. Defensive ends Kwame Jordan and Mack Cole combined for 34.5 sacks this season.

Heading into the season, Dunn was so intent on turning around the program that he relinquished his athletic director duties that he held since 2004. He figured he had a gem in redshirt freshman quarterback Dax Crum, a transfer from Arizona State University. Crum -- who will leave Mesa after this season and have three years of eligibility at a four-year school -- didn't let anyone down. He was named the Region I Co-Offensive Player of the Year after leading the Western States Football League in passing with 2,037 yards. He led the nation with a 254.6 yards-per-game average with 15 touchdown passes against only four interceptions. This was despite missing nearly two full games due to a shoulder injury.

Crum, along with wide receiver Terrance Moore (10 TD receptions), tight end Micah Parker (18 receptions) and lineman Chris Garrison are all first-team All-Region I selections and lead the offense that will benefit from the return of leading rusher Jay Leal.

Linebacker Zach Hernandez (nine sacks) and defensive back Jamichael Hall (three interceptions) are first team all-defense members. Kickers James Klingensmith (punter) and Dominic Gamboa (first team all-WSFL placekicker) have been brilliant all season.

Sims made it sound as though his club couldn't wait to get onto the football field again.

"We had our best practice of the year today," he said. "I think they're very excited to be out here. They're enjoying the weather and they've been commenting on how nice the air was out here. I think they're very excited to have earned this opportunity out here and they're having a blast."

Even with the nice weather, Sims plans to bring his club back home.

"Our goal is to win championships at Fort Scott," Sims said. "Our goal is not to play in the Valley of the Sun, our goal is to win the Valley of the Sun."

THE 'HOUNDS

6-1 Jayhawk Conference/9-2 overall

NAVARRO, Texas.................W. 18-17

at Independence..........W. 2-0 (16-20)

at Coffeyville..................W. 10-3

DODGE CITY.....................W. 28-14

at Hutchinson..................W. 34-14

AIR FORCE PREP.................W. 38-17

at Butler.......................L. 8-45

HIGHLAND........................W. 50-0

at Garden City.................W. 24-20

GARDEN CITY....................W. 55-28

Butler (at Wichita)............L. 22-35

Bold -- Jayhawk Conference game.

NOTE -- Fort Scott lost to Independence but then was later awarded the victory by forfeit when Independence was found to have used an ineligble player.

vs. Playoff teams (Garden City, Coffeyville, Butler): 3-2.

vs. Ranked teams (when met: Navarro, Coffeyville, Butler, Garden City): 4-2.

vs. Western States Football League: 0-0.

vs. Common opponents: 0-0.

On road: 4-1.

Average score: 28-19.

THE T-BIRDS

6-2 Western States Football League/8-2 overall

ARIZONA WESTERN.................W. 28-6

at Phoenix.....................W. 53-26

at Pima........................W. 49-17

at New Mexico Military.........W. 28-21

SNOW...........................L. 17-48

at Scottsdale..................W. 27-14

PHOENIX.........................W. 45-6

EASTERN ARIZONA.................L. 7-31

GLENDALE.......................W. 31-17

at Arizona Western.............W. 42-35

Bold -- Western States Football League game.

vs. Playoff teams: 0-0; The WSFL doesn't conduct playoffs.

vs. Ranked teams (when met: Snow, Eastern Arizona): 0-2.

vs. Jayhawk Conference: 0-0

vs. Common opponents: 0-0.

at Home: 3-2.

Average score: 33-22.