Flashback: 2007 National Championship

We're building up to the 2019 NJCAA Football Championship on Dec. 5, which will pit No. 1 Gulf Coast against No. 2 Lackawanna in Pittsburg, Kansas. Today, we'll remember the fourth national championship at Perkinston back in 2007. This information was assembled and written by MGCCC Archivist Charles Sullivan.

Gulf Coast, coached by Steve Campbell in his fourth season, beat every competitor in succession.  The Holmes Bulldogs fell first, followed by the Northeast Tigers, and then the arch-enemy Pearl River Wildcats.  On September 20, the Bulldogs massacred the Hinds Eagles 61-0 — the worst defeat in their history.  Next came the Co-Lin Wolves, followed by the East Central Warriors, the Northwest Rangers, and the Jones County Bobcats.  On October 27, Homecoming day, the Southwest Bears, (Campbell's first team as a head coach), went down 53-17 and gave up the South Division crown.

On Nov. 3, the Bulldogs smashed the Northwest Rangers again in the MACJC semifinal game.  One week later the Bulldogs defeated Jones again for the state title — the first for MGCCC in 19 years.

On Dec. 1, 2007, the Bulldogs took on Kilgore College in the CHAMPS Heart of Texas Bowl in Copperas Cove, Texas, and won 62-28. Demond Washington ran for four touchdowns and Gulf Coast piled up 550 yards in offense. The Bulldogs led 31-14 heading into halftime after a 1-yard touchdown run by 6-foot-5, 385-pound defensive lineman Terrance Cody. Cody would go on to win a national championship at Alabama and a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens.

So great was this victory, which made a perfect 12-0 season (a first-ever for Campbell), that both the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) poll and the JC Gridiron poll voted MGCCC co-equal with Butler Community College and gave the first co-national championship honors to two teams in 50 years.  For the first time in 23 years, MGCCC added a national trophy to its collection, and Campbell became a very rare individual in having been involved in three national championships—as a player at Troy State, a Division II Head Coach at Delta State, and a community college head coach at MGCCC.

Gulf Coast had three first-team NJCAA All-Americans: Defensive lineman Terrence Cody, defensive back Tramaine Brock and kicker Sean Brauchle.