The NJCAA #12 GMC JC Football team (7-1) is back in action this weekend when they travel to Arkansas Baptist College (3-6) in Little Rock, Arkansas on Saturday, October 29th. The Bulldogs are coming off their open week rested and ready to get back on the field. GMC is coming off a 64-14 win over Jireh Prep back on October 15th on Alumni Weekend. After opening the season with a close loss to Navarro College they have managed to rattle off 7 games in a row, including a 3 game road stretch that saw them travel over 4,000 miles in three weeks.
The Bulldogs as a team are clicking on both sides of the ball here in the fall 2016 season. The offense ranks #16 in the nation in total yards with 428.5 per game, with 1594 of it coming on the ground and 1834 through the air. Cameron Rosendahl has had a spectacular sophomore season helping lead the team to their 7-1 record. He has passed for 1551 yards on 97 of 153 attempts with 19 TD's against only 5 INT's. It hasn't all been on his shoulders on the offensive end as he is getting help from the ground attack in the form of Kawon Bryant (SO) who has 580 yards and 6 TD's on the season, Major Belamy (FR) with 404 yards and 4 TD's and Ty'Juan Fulton (FR) with 270 yards and 6 TD's.
The success of the season has not rested soley on the shoulders of the offense as the defense is performing at a high level as well. They are giving up only 11.9 points a game by only allowing 233.4 yards a game. The Bulldogs defense lead the nation in scoring touchdowns off turnovers with 7 on the year. The defense has been nailed down by Malcolm Penny (SO) who has 36 tackles and 8 sacks, Brandon Henderson (SO) with 19 tackles and 2 sacks and DeAndre Applin (SO) with 21 tackles and 1 sack. The GMC defense has intercepted the opposing quarterbacks 15 times this year as well has having sacked the opposing QB 36 times.
The Bulldogs will be making the trek to Little Rock in an effort to continue their journey to a bowl game. The time off has been good as Coach Bert Williams stated, "Last week was somewhat of a recovery week in regards to only having one day of limited contact. We had plenty of activity, just very little contact. We did that to try and "freshen them up" for the homestretch and to try and get some guys with nagging injuries up to 100%. I think it helped us, but we will see on Saturday. When Coach Williams was asked if the team can improve still at this point of year, he responded immediately with, "There is plenty of room to improve and we need to continue to do so if we want to finish the regular season at 10-1 and have a chance for a bowl game. We have a razor thin margin for error as we go through the remaining portion of the season. We simply need to focus on what we are doing, how we are executing, and how we are working together to be successful."
The game on Saturday against Arkansas Baptist College will be a good challenge for the Bulldogs as the Stampeded are expected to have plenty of talent, speed and a desire to compete for the full 60 minutes.
The game can be seen live online at www.jockjivesports.net. Tune in 20 minutes before kick off to catch the Bert Williams show. The kickoff is scheduled for 2pm (ET).