ATHENS — The Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals will host the defending national champion Navarro College Bulldogs at 3 p.m. Saturday at Bruce Field.

And if the Cards win? They will host the defending national champion Navarro College Bulldogs at 3 p.m. the following Saturday at Bruce Field.

Some reward, huh? 

Such is life in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference, where the nation’s toughest teams beat up on one another in the chase for a national championship. A win Saturday for Navarro (7-1, 4-1 in conference) would mean TVCC (7-1, 4-1) would open the playoffs on Navarro’s home turf in Corsicana next week.

All season long, TVCC head coach Brad Smiley has skated around talk of undefeated starts and national championships.

Instead, he’s turned his talk to the Cardinals’ season goals — to earn the right to play home playoff games and win a conference championship.

“This game is big because it’s the next game, and it’s the next one toward us reaching our goals,” Smiley said. “It just kind of feels right, Trinity Valley and Navarro, two of the top teams in the conference and, really, two of the top teams in the country. Two teams whose only losses have come to the No. 1 team in the country (Blinn). That does add a little more to it.”

The game will mark the second time this season TVCC — now ranked No. 9 in the country — will face another top 10 team. Navarro, which was knocked from the No. 1 spot in the national poll after losing to Blinn, enters the game at No. 6.

There’s a deep history between TVCC and Navarro, rivals separated by about 40 miles of striped pavement on State Highway 31.

Most recently, the Cardinals’ attempt to spoil Navarro’s shot at a national title came up short in a 27-25 Bulldog win at Tiger Stadium at the end of the 2010 regular season.

Navarro went on to beat the Cardinals in the SWJCFC championship game, 52-27, on its way to a 13-12 win over Butler (Kan.) in the NJCAA National Championship Game.

The Bulldogs have a potent passing attack led by quarterback Adrian Nelson, who is the conference’s top-ranked passer with 2,337 passing yards on the season and 19 touchdowns against only seven interceptions. Last week in Navarro’s win over NEO, he was 25 of 37 for 374 yards and five touchdowns.

His favorite target is wide receiver Marquez Clark, who leads the conference in receptions (62) and receiving yards (1,040) to go along with nine touchdown catches. Clark set a Navarro record last week for receptions in a season, passing Kendrick Starling’s 59 catches in 1999.

The Cardinals enter the game with the conference’s top defense, allowing 256 yards per game. The unit has given up a conference-low 1,234 passing yards, or just about 154 per game.

Offensively, the team’s balanced attack is led by quarterback Tucker Carter, who is one of three SWJCFC signal-callers to surpass the 2,000-yard passing mark this season.

The rushing attack is paced by a pair of freshmen in Vedial Johnson and Rufus Mason. Johnson is the third-leading rusher in the conference with 637 yards to go with seven touchdowns. Mason is ninth with 340 yards rushing and four touchdowns.

2011 SWJCFC Standings

                    Season               Conference

Team    Rec.    PF    PA    Rec.    PF    PA

Blinn    8-0    442    192    5-0    227    153

TVCC    7-1    328    137    4-1    203    123

Navarro    7-1    255    149    4-1    166    105

Kilgore    3-5    248    254    2-3    143    155

Tyler    5-3    256    244    2-3    161    195

Cisco    3-5    239    274    1-4    124    173

NEO    2-6    193    287    0-6    124    247

This week’s games: Navarro at TVCC; Blinn at Cisco; Kilgore at Tyler; Arkansas Baptist at NEO