Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference
Press Release

It's official: Grizzlies are NJCAA champions

It's official: the Butler Grizzlies are the 2007 NJCAA National Football Champions. For the first times since 1960, however, there will be two teams who can lay claim to the title, as Mississippi Gulf Coast shares the top spot in the final poll of 2007.

The Grizzlies, ranked No. 2 in the final regular season poll, traveled to Salt Lake City for the Top of the Mountains Bowl, facing No. 1-ranked Snow College of Utah. Butler dominated the Badgers to win 56-27 to assume the national championship.

Meanwhile, No. 3 Mississippi Gulf Coast, played in the Heart of Texas Bowl against No. 15 Kilgore (Texas), a team that finished the season 8-4. Gulf Coast won that game 62-28 to finish its season at 12-0.

The NJCAA Football Committee made the decision to split the championship. As a result, Butler and Mississippi Gulf Coast share the No. 1 spot in the final NJCAA / JC Football.com Poll of the 2007 season. The last time the NJCAA football title was spilt was in 1960 when Tyler Junior College (Texas) and Cameron State College (Okla.) were named Co-National Champions.

Butler will have its fifth national title to go along with undisputed championships in 1981, 1998, 1999 and 2003. The Grizzlies continue to build on a tradition that has seen them win four of the past 10 national championships and seven straight Jayhawk Conference titles.

Mississippi Gulf Coast its first Mississippi Association of Community & Junior Colleges title since 1986 when they defeated Jones County Junior College (Miss.) 20-17 back on Nov. 10. The national championship is the second in football for MGCCC. They last won the title in 1984.

Snow College, which held the No. 1 ranking in the NJCAA / JC Football.com Poll for eight consecutive weeks during the regular season, ends the year ranked third with an 11-1 record.

Navarro College (Texas), who defeated previously fourth-ranked Georgia Military College 24-21 in the Pilgrim's Pride Bowl Classic on Dec. 8, closes out the season ranked fourth with a 9-3 overall record.

Rochester Community & Technical College, who finished the season with an 11-0 record, is ranked sixth in the final poll. The Yellow Jackets were also named the 2007 Non-Scholarship Champions by the NJCAA Football Committee, which marks the eighth year the committee has honored the highest ranked team that does not offer scholarships.

The Yellow Jackets concluded the season by claiming their fifth Minnesota Community College Conference title in the last six years.

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