Northwest, Rochester will decide NJCAA championship on Dec. 6

The Mississippi Bowl will host the NJCAA National championship game between top-ranked Northwest Mississippi Community College and unbeaten No. 2 Rochester (Minn.) at 2 p.m. on Dec. 6 at Biloxi Indian Stadium. The one-two matchup was announced Thursday by the NJCAA.

The Rangers (10-1) defeated Gulf Coast 34-24 in the MACJC State championship game on Nov. 7 at home, earning a shot at the national title. The Yellow Jackets (11-0) are unbeaten.

For the third straight year, the NJCAA national championship will be decided in the Mississippi Bowl. East Mississippi won the last two.

Northwest won the MACJC title by downing Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College 34-24.

"I'm extremely pleased for our football program, for our school and for our community to be headed down to Biloxi to play in the Mississippi Bowl," Northwest coach Jack Wright said. "To have No. 1 vs. No. 2 playing for the national championship just solidifies where we think we belong in the bowl season. Hopefully we can meet the expectations of our league."

Rochester won the Minnesota College Athletic Conference title. The Yellowjackets rallied from a 19-point fourth-quarter deficit in the state championship against North Dakota State College of Science 45-41.

"I know that it's one of the best bowl in the country, if not the best. I know the Mississippi conference is the toughest conference," Rochester coach Bill Quistorff said. "Winning our conference has been an expectation, but what we really want to do for this program is get into bowl games and win them consistently and ultimately go after an overall national championship."

Tickets can be purchased through the game website, MississippiBowl.com.

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Northwest, Rochester will decide NJCAA championship on Dec. 6 ."