Courtesy: AWC Athletics
Yuma, Arizona – November 17, 2009 -- Arizona Western College is proud to announce that they have officially accepted the invitation to play in the 2009 Mississippi Bowl, which will be held Sunday, December 6th, in Biloxi, Mississippi. The Matadors-who are ranked 6th in the current NJCAA Poll-will face off against the 5th-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College. Kickoff is scheduled for 2PM Mississippi time (1PM Arizona time) at Biloxi Indian Stadium. It’s the first bowl appearance for the Matadors since they traveled to Long Island, New York, to participate in the Nassau Bowl in December of 1998. The announcement comes just three days after the Matadors won their first Western States Football League regular season title since 1981 with a 30-17 victory over Snow College at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Yuma Saturday
The team has continued to exceed most fans’ expectations since they began preseason drills in August-although Tom Minnick certainly hasn’t been surprised. The Matadors’ Head Football Coach has said all along that he felt strongly that this team could achieve great things, and from the team’s 35-17 victory against Snow to start the ’09 season in Ephraim, Utah, September 5th, they have continued to prove him right. The Matadors’ won their first five games of the season for the first time since 1981, including a defining 27-2 win October 3rd in Thatcher against Eastern Arizona, ranked 5th in the nation at the time. After getting upset October 17th by New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico, the Matadors then got back on the winning track by beating their last 4 opponents (Pima, Glendale, Phoenix and Snow) by a combined score of 148-38, Their 9-1 overall record is the program’s finest overall mark since the 1972 Matadors, who went on to win the national championship.
The Matadors will now face a Lions’ team that is coming off a historic win two weeks ago. The Lions avenged their lone loss of the season by beating archrival Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, 75-71, November 7th, and won their first-ever Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges Football Championship. The 5th-ranked Lions have been nationally ranked since the beginning of the season, rising as high as 2nd in September and as low as 12th. The Lions will try to reach the 11-win plateau for the first time in school history in the bowl matchup, while the Matadors will try to tie the school’s all-time single season football win total with win #10 December 6th.
Bowl information can be found at the bowl’s website: www.mississippibowl.com
