The Rochester Community and Technical College football team is playing Northwest Mississippi for the NJCAA national championship on Sunday. But is it a true national title?
Well, yes and no. The National Junior College Athletic Association features about 70 football teams throughout the country. That includes teams from seven different conferences with eight independent teams.
But California junior colleges are not part of the NJCAA and the state has schools with nearly 70 football programs.
"You have to apply for membership and pay dues and we have bylaws," said Mark Krug, an assistant executive director in public relations for the NJCAA.
"California has chosen not to be part of the NJCAA," Krug said.
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The NJCAA consists of 278 teams in 42 states. But of those schools, more than 200 do not compete in football. Of the 70 schools that play football, Northwest Mississippi, a scholarship school, and RCTC were ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the final regular-season poll. They will meet at 2 p.m. Sunday in Biloxi, Miss., in the Mississippi Bowl. With the top two teams in the NJCAA Top 20 poll meeting, that makes this the organization's official championship game. That has now happened every year since 2008.
"When No. 1 and No. 2 meet on the field in a sanctioned game, it's the official national championship game," Krug said.
RCTC is playing for its first official national title in football. The NJCAA has just one division in football, and therefore just one official champion. Other sports — with more teams — are broken down into Division I, II and III classifications.
"We need to treat it as a business trip," third-year RCTC coach Bill Quistorff said. "We're not going down there on vacation. We're going down there to win a national championship."
RCTC has claimed Division III national titles in football in both 2000 and 2007.
"I wouldn't say it's mythical, but it's not official," Krug said of those titles. "We don't have multiple divisions in football."
This will mark just the third time a Division III non-scholarship school will be playing in the title game.
"Being in the national championship (game), we lucked out by being the only undefeated team left," RCTC quarterback Nick Rooney said. "That was our goal, but it's pretty hard being a D-III (non-scholarship team). I was surprised that we got to that No. 2 ranking."
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The Yellowjackets got a break when East Mississippi was declared ineligible for the postseason because it had a pair of on-field brawls this season. Northwest Mississippi also benefited from the disqualification as it had lost to East Mississippi 49-16 in the fourth game of the regular season.
Win or lose, RCTC has enjoyed one heck of a ride to reach the championship game.
"It's been a blast, it's always a blast to win games," sophomore wide receiver Patrick Bolton said. "No one likes to lose, so when you're winning and having fun winning, it's always a blast."
