ELLISVILLE – An NJCAA Top 10 matchup in the opening round of the MACJC Playoffs lived up to the hype Saturday afternoon at Sim Cooley Field, with the homestanding Jones Bobcats breaking up a two-point conversion in the final minutes and overcoming four turnovers to hold off Northwest 36-34.

Northwest fell to 8-2 and had an eight-game road winning streak snapped, while Jones improved to 9-1 and will host EMCC for the MACJC Championship next Saturday, Nov. 10.

For the first time since 2014, Northwest will not play for a conference championship, ending a three-year run.

Outside of total yards, 450-397 in favor of Jones, Northwest won nearly every stat category on Saturday. The Rangers ran 22 more plays, had nine more first downs and forced four turnovers.

The Rangers trailed 14-7 at the break, with Jacob Free's 12-yard touchdown pass to Braden Smith their lone score. It was setup on a reverse that was fumbled and recovered by Taures Payne.

With four lead changes in the second half alone, Northwest took its first lead, 21-17, in the third quarter on Free's 17-yard touchdown pass to Monterio Hunt. 

Northwest scored 21 points in the third – all on Free touchdown passes of 37, 17 and 31 yards – and led 28-23 after three.

Jones retook the lead on the first play of the fourth quarter, with Stetson Bennett hitting Gabe Douglas for a 4-yard score. The ensuing two-point attempt failed, making it 29-28 Bobcats.

Two series later, after a second missed Northwest field goal, Jones took it 73 yards to pay dirt to extend its lead to 36-28.

Northwest responded with a 17-play, 75-yard drive that lasted nearly seven minutes and ended on Chris Calvert's 2-yard touchdown run to pull the Rangers within 36-34 with 1:04 to play. The two-point try from Free to Demarcus Jones failed, broken up in the end zone.

With the season on the line, Chris Taylor and the Rangers executed a perfect onside kick that was recovered by Jayce Rogers at Northwest's 47-yard line with under a minute to go.

The Rangers drove it to the Jones 37-yard line before four straight incompletions turned it over on downs and allowed the Bobcats to take a knee and run out the clock.

Free threw for 248 yards, to put him over 2,000 on the season, and career-high four touchdowns. Smith had a team-high eight grabs for 140 yards and two touchdowns. Bennett threw for 314 and three touchdowns for Jones.

For a second straight game, Jonathan Jones led Northwest with 15 tackles, followed by Brandin Echols with 10.

NJCAA bowl bids will be extended in the coming weeks and announced on NJCAA.org.