Published: September 24, 2008 08:12 am      

Cards debut in poll

Unbeaten TVCC No. 15

The Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals have finally lost.

Debuting in the NJCAA football poll at No. 15 this week, second-year coach Brad Smiley’s Cardinals have lost the ability to continue to fly under the radar in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference.

The Cardinals are riding high with their first 3-0 start since 2002. TVCC owns wins over Dodge City (48-0), Louisiana College JV (51-14) and Northeastern Oklahoma (48-29).

To protect the ranking over the next four weeks, the Cardinals will be tested to the max. Their next four games are against the four teams conference coaches picked to make the playoffs before the season began.

It gets even tougher when you through in the fact two of the four — Blinn and Navarro — are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, atop the NJCAA rankings.

The Cardinals are scheduled to being the grueling four-week stretch at home Saturday against Cisco in a 7 p.m. kickoff at Bruce Field. The Wranglers are 1-2 after falling 35-14 to Tyler last week.

After Cisco, the Cardinals travel to Corsicana to face Navarro and then return home to play Blinn for homecoming on Saturday, Oct. 11. TVCC travels the following week to Kilgore.

Blinn, which drew six first-place votes, is the top-ranked team in the country for a third straight week. The Buccaneers are 3-0. Navarro is also 3-0.