Rangers now second in national poll

Mar. 31—Respect — every athlete wants it and fights for it, countries have gone to war over it, Aretha Franklin sang about it, and you better give it to your parents, or else.

Respect. It's only seven letters. But it's a heavy word.

Kilgore College earned even more respect last Saturday, in this strange spring football season in which we're all now invested, thanks to a global pandemic that postponed the 2020 regular season to this month.

The Rangers, who were ranked fourth in the NJCAA's preseason national poll, are up to second in the nation in the latest poll released at the beginning of this week.

KC, coached by Willie Gooden, has won the very difficult Southwest Junior College Football Conference's regular season title the last two years, is ranked only behind Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College in this week's poll.

After KC, Garden City (Kansas) is third, and then Snow College (Utah), fourth. Iowa Central Community College is fifth, Lackawanna College (Pennsylvania) sixth, and Navarro — one of KC's biggest rivals traditionally over the years in the SWJCFC — is seventh.

KC plays Navarro at Corsicana on April 17.

Independence Community College (Kansas) is eighth, Iowa Western Community College is ninth, and Trinity Valley, another KC rival, checks in at 10.

The poll is placed with this story.

At first glance, there is the notable absence of Mississippi junior college programs. Mississippi elected to play its season back in the conventional fall.

Another noticeable absence: Butler (Kansas), often ranked in the top three in the poll throughout the season.