FULTON – In a win or go home regular season finale at Itawamba on a cold and rainy Thursday night, Northwest's defense forced five Indian turnovers and returned two interceptions for touchdowns to lift the Rangers to a 34-7 victory and punch their ticket to the MACJC playoffs.

Northwest improved to 8-1 overall and 5-1 in the north division to clinch the No. 2 seed in the postseason, its eight straight road victory dating back to last season. Itawamba ended the year at 5-4 and 3-3 in division play.

The Rangers led 6-0 after one quarter, with Jerrick Reed II's 38-yard pick six providing the game's first score. 

A lengthy 12-play, 73-yard drive with less than a minute left in the half put Northwest on top 13-0, with Jacob Free scrambling on 4th-and-14 and finding Braden Smith for a 34-yard touchdown. 

Northwest's defense provided its second score of the game with 7:44 to play in the third quarter, with Brandin Echols stepping in front of Clark Mills' pass at the 47-yard line and returning it for a score. 

Echols struck again two drives later, blocking a 35-yard field goal attempt and returning it 20 yards to midfield. Northwest would score seven plays later, with Kevin Perkins plunging his way in from five yards out for his 20th career rushing touchdown and a 27-0 Ranger lead. 

Another defensive play, this time a Brandon Pierre forced fumble that was recovered by Tahji Gilbert, setup a 24-yard rushing touchdown for Urriah Shephard to make it 34-0.

Itawamba broke the shutout with 4:28 to play, with Spencer Unruh finding a wide-open Jamel Thomas for a 26-yard touchdown on busted coverage in the secondary. 

Special teams and defense was the difference in the game, with Robert Wilcke pinning ICC inside its own 20-yard line four times and the Ranger defense forcing five turnovers with six sacks and eight tackles-for-loss. 

Jonathan Jones led Northwest with a game and career-high 16 tackles, to go along with a sack and fumble recovery, while Pierre added 10 tackles.  

Chris Calvert led the Rangers' 198-yard rushing night with 78 yards. Hiram Wadlington had 22 carries for 136 yards for ICC.

The MACJC playoff berth is the Rangers' fifth straight and 29th in the last 37 seasons. They will travel to south division champion and 7th-ranked Jones College (8-1) on Saturday, Nov. 3 for a 2 p.m. kickoff.