'Hounds noted in JCGridiron poll

Receiver Courtney Ward (84) and tailback Stanley Hagan (26) are expected to be two of Fort Scott Community College's top returning offensive players this season. The Greyhounds were pegged as one of many teams to watch when JCGridiron released it's pre-season "Dirty 30" poll Monday afternoon. (Tribune file photo)

Fort Scott Community College's football teams was one of many, including two others from the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference, labeled as "Others on the Bubble" in the JCGridiron Dirty 30 pre-season football poll, released Monday afternoon.

The Greyhounds finished in fifth place in the KJCCC last season -- 3-4 in conference games and 4-5 overall -- missing out of a playoff berth by one game.

Mississippi Gulf Coast was awarded the No. 1 spot in the poll. Despite winning the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) South Division title and finishing as runner-up in the MACJC playoffs last season, Gulf Coast (9-2) did not receive a berth in a bowl game.

California schools occupy the next two positions. Riverside (9-2) is ranked No. 2 and Mount San Antonio (11-1) is third following a runner-up finish in the Southern California finals last year.

Defending National Junior College Athletic Association champion Iowa Western is ranked fourth. The IWCC program, which was 11-0 last season, is going into just its fifth year of existence but was able to blow out KJCCC and Region VI Playoff champ Butler, 27-7, in the feature game of the Graphic Edge Bowl to secure both the NJCAA and Dirty 30 national titles.

The NJCAA does not include the schools in California so when that organization's pre-season poll comes out later in the year, it will not include schools such as Riverside and Mount San Antonio. The Dirty 30 is all-inclusive but has named NJCAA schools as its national champ each of the past two seasons. East Mississippi was the 2011 Dirty 30 champ following back-to-back titles by Mount San Antonio.

Snow (Utah) is fifth in the pre-season poll. The Badgers (10-1) are the defending champions of the Western States Football League.

Butler (7-0, 11-1) is the highest-ranked KJCCC squad in the pre-season, placed at No. 7. Hutchinson, runner up in both the regular-season and the playoffs, has the No. 14 spot in the poll coming off an 6-1, 9-3 season that included a win in its home Salt City Bowl.

In addition to Fort Scott, Coffeyville and Garden City are the other KJCCC teams that are "On the Bubble." Coffeyville (5-2, 6-4) finished third but was not invited to a bowl game. Garden City (4-3, 7-4) finished fourth and then went to the Mississippi Bowl where it upset then-No. 7 (NJCAA poll) Copiah-Lincoln, which was the MACJC playoff champion.

Also on the bubble is Ellsworth (Iowa), the runner-up to Iowa Western in the Midwest Football Conference last season. Ellsworth (7-4) named Fort Scott High School graduate Josh Lattimer as its head coach earlier this season.

In what could be the final season for the annual series between KJCCC and Southwest Junior College Football Conference (SWJCFC) schools, three of the latter group's teams are in the Dirty 30 and two are on the bubble. The highest-ranked team is Navarro (4-2, 10-2), which finished third in the conference but won the SWJCFC playoffs and defeated Georgia Military in the Heart of Texas Bowl. The Bulldogs hold the No. 11 position.

Trinity Valley (1-5, 3-6), which finished last in the SWJCFC, has been placed in the No. 22 slot, one ahead of conference rival Kilgore (5-1, 8-3), which was co-champion in the regular season but lost in the first round of the playoffs to Navarro. Kilgore lost to Northwest Mississippi in the Brazos Bowl, which was a new bowl last year.

On the bubble are defending SWJCFC regular-season co-champ and playoff runner-up Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (5-1, 9-3) and Blinn (2-4, 2-6), which finished sixth in the seven-team conference. NEO lost to Navarro in the playoff title game and was upset by the College of DuPage in the Citizens Bank Bowl at Pittsburg.

The regular season for KJCCC schools begins August 24 with a full slate of conference games. Fort Scott opens at home against Highland in the only day game, kicking off at 1 p.m. At 7 p.m. that night, Hutchinson will play at Coffeyville, Butler will be at home against Dodge City and Independence will travel to Garden City to christen the Broncbusters' new $2.2-million facility, which is one block from the college campus on the east side of the city.

The KJCCC-SWJCFC series will be held the weekend of August 31, which will be the first week of play for the Southwest conference schools. Fort Scott will play at Tyler that weekend.

The complete poll appears below.

On the bubble: New Mexico Military (6-5), Jones County, Miss. (6-3; 21), Loa Angeles Pierce (9-2), Cerritos, Calf. (5-5), Fort Scott (4-5), Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (9-3; 30), Ellsworth, Iowa (7-4; 26), Southwestern, Calif. (10-1; 27), Dean, Mass. (7-3), Long Beach, Calif. (0-10), Fresno, Calif. (8-3; 23), Grossmont, Calif. (5-5), Mount San Jacinto, Calif. (9-2), Mesa Ariz. (6-5), Copiah-Lincoln, Miss. (9-3; 20), Blinn, Texas (2-6), North Dakota Science (3-6), Diablo Valley, Calif. (7-4), De Anza, Calif. (8-3; 29), Scottsdale, Ariz. (5-5), Coffeyville (6-4), Santa Rosa, Calif. (3-7), El Camino, Calif. (3-7), Siskiyous, Calif. (10-1; 22), Garden City (7-4.; 19), Chabot, Calif. (5-6), Contra Costa, Calif. (8-3), Santa Monica, Calif. (9-2), Hartnell, Calif. (6-4), Central Lakes, Minn. (10-1).

2005: Glendale, Ariz.

2006: Blinn, Texas

2007 (tie): Butler and Mississippi Gulf Coast

2008: Butte, Calif.

2009: Mount San Antonio, Calif.

2010: Mount San Antonio, Calif.

2011: East Mississippi

2012: Iowa Western.