SENATOBIA – Northwest is back in familiar territory with its 25th playoff appearance in the last 33 seasons, but will have their hands full on Saturday afternoon with 11th-ranked Copiah-Lincoln in the MACJC Semifinals.

The 38th all-time meeting between the two teams (NW leads 23-13-1) kicks off at 3 p.m. at Stone Stadium.

Northwest will be playing its fourth Top 15 opponent of the season, dropping previous games to #10 Jones County 28-20, #7 Gulf Coast 63-7 and #1 East Mississippi 49-0. All told, the Rangers have matched up with seven ranked teams in their last 15 games dating back to last season.

The Rangers enter the postseason 3-1 in their last four games after starting the year 1-4. If they want to have any chance of an upset on Saturday, they must get off to a better start in the first half after being outscored 172-87 through the first nine games.

Freshman running back Justin Crawford has been the workhorse the last six weeks of the season, rushing for over 200 yards in four games, including a school-record 338 yards and four touchdowns at Coahoma a week ago. For the season, the three-time MACJC Offensive Player of the Week is third in the NJCAA with 1,375 yards rushing and 13 TD. He's added 12 receptions for 306 yards.

Sophomore signal-caller Kyle Morgan has won three of his four starts since a season-ending injury to Karsten Miller in Week 5, managing the offense well and limiting his mistakes. Morgan has completed 27-of-62 passes for 443 yards, but has yet to throw a touchdown pass against four interceptions.

Northwest has just seven passing touchdowns on the year against 17 on the ground. 

Morgan's go-to receiver has been Jackson State commit Jamarius Mabry who has 27 receptions for 315 yards. Jacob McCrary has also seen his fair share of targets, hauling in 14 passes for 294 yards and 3 TD. Jalen Gaston and fullback Quandez Lee each have two touchdowns on the year.

Terry Caldwell and Malik Hawkins, two of the top tacklers in the MACJC, lead the Rangers on defense. The duo have racked up 199 tackles between them, accounting for almost 30 percent of the team's total. 

Sophomore Treston DeCoud has gained a lot of Division I interest lately after leading the MACJC with six interceptions, four breakups and 35 tackles. He's joined in the secondary by Brandon Mack (team-best 12 passes defended), Fred Garth Jr. (46 tackles) and Tino Thomas Jr. (30 tackles, five PD). 

In the trenches, Northwest's defensive line is banged up. Kendall Carr, Corey Brown and a host of other Rangers will have to step their game up and get pressure on Daniel Fitzwater or it could be a long afternoon.

Copiah-Lincoln (7-2) is riding a five-game winning streak into the postseason after a 45-35 setback to Southwest Mississippi on Sept. 18 in Summit. The streak includes a 29-23 upset win over then 3rd-ranked Gulf Coast which allowed the Wolfpack to win the south division.   

The Co-Lin offense is a Top 20 team in nearly every statistical category including scoring (19th), points per game (20th), total offense (10th), yards per game (15th) and passing yards (12th).

The aforementioned Fitzwater, a sophomore from Shreveport, La., and major Division I prospect is 178-of-276 for 2,491 yards, 18 touchdowns and four interceptions through nine games.

Redshirt freshman and Mississippi State commit Donald Gray has been his favorite target in 2014. Gray, a native of Memphis, has caught 50 passes for 931 yards and 10 touchdowns. Sophomores Courtney Foy and Koy McFarland are tied for second on the team with 31 catches apiece.

The running game has been a by-committee affair for Co-Lin this season as De'Lance Turner, Diquan Davis, Joshua Bates and Lakedric Lee have combined to rush for 1,405 yards and 13 touchdowns.

The Co-Lin defense, led by coordinator Otis Yelverton, has been strong against the run all season long. Co-Lin has only given up over 100 yards rushing by a running back in a game once this season, but they haven't seen a player quite like Justin Crawford. The key to stopping Crawford on Saturday will be the defensive line, where a rotation of Johnathan Calvin, Demond Tucker, Deion Pope, Jonathan Taylor, Darrell Vanerson, Tre' Brown and Ryan Duckworth has been outstanding this season for Co-Lin.

Freshman LB Zachary Williams has been a tackling machine this season for Co-Lin, posting 70 tackles through nine games. Defensive back Arthur Maulet has five interceptions and has broken up 20 passes this season. 

Northwest is averaging 21.4 points and 324.3 yards-per-game on the season and allowing 31.6 points and 362.1 yards-per-game. Co-Lin is averaging 33.9 points and a whopping 439.0 yards-per-game while allowing 20.9 points and 281.2 yards-per-game.
  
Fans can follow all of Saturday's action thanks to live video, live stats and live audio. Links are below.

Live Video: www.njcaatv.com/nwccrangers 
Live Stats: sidearmstats.com/northwestms/football
Live Audio: http://brookhaven-broadcasting.com/58888/2299/listen-live