SENATOBIA — Northwest Mississippi won the clash of Mississippi community college football titans — and the right to play for another state championship.

Hayden Wolfe’s 43-yard field goal with 3:01 remaining gave No. 4 Northwest Mississippi the lead, and a defensive stop secured it in a wild 33-31 victory over No. 5 Mississippi Gulf Coast in the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference playoffs on Saturday.

Northwest Mississippi (9-1) advanced to the MACCC championship game and will face East Central Community College in Decatur on Nov. 16.

East Central beat Holmes Community College 31-21 in Saturday’s other semifinal. Northwest is seeking its third MACCC championship in five seasons, while East Central (8-2) is going for its first since 1939. This is East Central’s first appearance in the state championship game since 1970.

Wolfe’s field goal brought the fourth and final lead change of the fourth quarter. Gulf Coast (8-2) was stopped on downs at its own 23-yard line on its next possession, and Northwest was able to pick up one first down and run out the clock from there.

Former Warren Central star Trey Hall scored on a 13-yard run to put Gulf Coast ahead 25-24 early in the fourth quarter, and Vicksburg High’s Tyler Henderson caught a 12-yard TD pass with 7:27 remaining to give the Bulldogs a 31-30 lead. They missed on two-point conversion tries both times.

In between those two touchdowns, Northwest’s Zach Wilcke threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to M.J. Johnson. After Henderson’s TD, Northwest drove 47 yards in nine plays to get Wolfe’s go-ahead field goal.

Hall finished with 137 rushing yards and one touchdown, while Henderson caught two passes for 14 yards and one TD. Gulf Coast erased a 21-10 halftime deficit with backup quarterback Brandon Hines running the offense.

Hines was 4-for-6 passing for 46 yards and two TDs after replacing injured starter Landon Varnes. Hines also ran for 46 yards.

Wilcke was 15-of-25 passing for 287 yards and four touchdowns for Northwest Mississippi. K.D. Gibson caught six passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns.