Published: September 26, 2008 10:07 am      

CISCO (1-2) at TVCC (3-0) - Hey, remember us?

A month later, Cardinals return to Bruce Field unbeaten, nationally-ranked

When Brad Smiley looked at the 2008 Trinity Valley Community College schedule, he expressed concern. Not because of any potential difficulty he may have observed, but rather the fact after opening at home the Cardinals wouldn’t be back at Bruce Field for a month.

The second-year TVCC head football coach said his squad would have to do something to make sure fans didn’t forget them.

No problem.

All the Cardinals have done since their last home game (a 48-0 win over Dodge City Community College) is reel off wins over Louisiana College JV (51-14) and Northeastern Oklahoma (48-29) for their first 3-0 start since 2002.

In addition to doing more than enough to keep the interest of their fans, they also caught the attention on the national scene. The Cardinals return home to host Cisco Junior College at 7 p.m. Saturday as the 15th-ranked NJCAA team.

As nice as the start has been for his team, Smiley is well aware the next four weeks will go a long way in determining the overall success of the season. The Cardinals’ next four opponents — Cisco, Navarro, Blinn and Kilgore — were the preseason picks of SWJCFC coaches to make the playoffs.

“The schedule definitely beefs up for us,” Smiley said Wednesday morning. “We are looking at it as an opportunity.

“Our goal is the make the playoffs and win a championship. This part of our schedule can move us closer to that.”

Despite averaging 49 points per game, Smiley said the Cardinals were still looking for a “complete game.”

TVCC will likely need such a game against Cisco. Smiley warned not to be fooled by the Wranglers’ 1-2 record.

“This is a typical John Parchman-coached team,” Smiley said. “They will run the ball and burn clock on offense and fly around and play aggressively on defense,

“This will be the most aggressive defense we’ve seen so far. They will take chances and bring people and try to mess things up.”

While the Cardinals were taking care of NEO in their conference opener laster week, the Wranglers fell in a 35-14 upset at home to Tyler.

“Tyler ran the ball well against them,” Smiley said. “They found a couple of sets they liked and had success and stuck with it.”

Tyler threw the ball just nine times, Smiley said.

The Cisco offense is led by running backs Reggie Dotson and Daryl Richardson. Dotson has rushed for 238 yards on 40 carries and Richardson 223 on 48.

James Henry lead the Cisco defense with 16 tackles. Marc Kinney and T.J. London have 15 each.

The Cardinals are back on the road next week against No 2-ranked Navarro in a 3 p.m. kickoff Saturday.