ATHENS — Northeastern Oklahoma  A&M quarterback Clayton Mitchem got a real good look at the new artificial turf at Bruce Field Saturday.

Probably a lot closer than he would have liked.

Mitchem was sacked seven times and intercepted once as the Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals manhandled NEO’s Golden Norsemen, 55-21.

The win set up a huge matchup in Brenham this Saturday, when No. 1 Blinn will host the No. 8 Cardinals (6-0). Kickoff at Cub Stadium in Brenham is set for 3 p.m. Both teams are 3-0 in Southwest Junior College Football Conference play.

Mitchem had a miserable day, getting hammered on one play after another. The constant pressure kept NEO (2-4, 0-4) from mounting an attempt to keep pace with the explosive Cardinal offense.

“That’s one of our goals — tackles for loss and sacks,” TVCC head coach Brad Smiley said. “An uncomfortable quarterback is a bad quarterback, and that plays to our advantage.”

NEO ballcarriers were stopped behind the line of scrimmage seven times. Efram Clark had two sacks, and Gant Kiolbassa, Kennedy Jones, Parker Holloway, Jermaine Longino and Paul Dawson dropped Mitchem one time each.

Clifford Stokes also had a pair of pass break-ups — one near the TVCC end zone and a beautiful diving deflection later on a ball that otherwise might have been caught for a long touchdown. Josh Reed added an interception after a big hit on the QB from Wesley Hollingshead.

Tucker Carter, the TVCC quarterback, had no such issues behind typically solid protection from his offensive line. He was 18 of 23 passing for 347 yards and four touchdowns.

The Cardinals’ first drive ended with Carter’s 40-yard touchdown pass to Derel Walker, and TVCC took a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter on a 62-yard scoring toss from Carter to Jack Brown.

Louis Durant’s three-yard touchdown run — set up by Mitchem’s 56-yard scramble on third-and-nine — cut the lead to 14-7 near the end of the first quarter. But the Cardinals answered with two more touchdowns — a 61-yard touchdown pass from Carter to Brown (who finished with five catches for 137 yards) and a 57-yard run by Mason Hayes.

As a matter of fact, every time NEO scored, TVCC put consecutive scores on the board to keep the lead far away. A 21-point third quarter put the game out of reach.

All told, TVCC scored six of its eight touchdowns from 34 yards away or longer — including two from beyond 60 yards.

“We were just prepared for the week,” said Walker, who later had a second touchdown wiped off the scoreboard due to penalty. “We just came out and executed today.”

CARDINALS 55, GOLDEN NORSEMEN 21

    NEO    TVCC

First Downs    15    26

Rushing Yards    38-66    47-270   

Passing Yards    161    347

Total Yards    227    617

Passes Att.    37    23

Passes Comp.    14    18

Interceptions    1    0

Fumbles/Lost    3/1    5/3

Penalties    8/65    10/120

Punts    8/36.1    2/40.0

SCORE BY QUARTERS

NEO    7    7    7    0    —    21

TVCC    14    13    21    7    —    55

SCORING SUMMARY

TVCC — Tucker Carter 40 pass to Derel Walker (Saul Martinez kick) 12:42

TVCC — Carter 62 pass to Jack Brown (Martinez kick) 7:12

NEO — Louis Durant 3 run (Collin Yeary kick) 5:08

TVCC — Carter 61 pass to Brown (pass fails) 13:03

TVCC — Mason Hayes 57 run (Martinez kick) 11:15

NEO — Clayton Mitchem 16 pass to Ronnie Price (Yeary kick) 1:52

TVCC —Brown 1 run (Martinez kick) 10:18

TVCC —James Jackson 1 run (Martinez kick) 7:08

NEO — De’Angelo Jennings 34 FUM RET (Yeary kick) 3:52

TVCC — Carter 34 pass to Adrian Henderson (Martinez kick) 0:54

TVCC — Vedial Johnson 38 run (Martinez kick) 9:04

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — NEO: Louis Durant 6-19; Dequan Wojciechowski 2-11; Kameron Doolittle 2-3; Jalen Hearron 5-2; Clayton Mitchem 12-13; Delans Griffin 1-(-3); Gerald Howse 9-24; Beau Marsaln 1-(-3). TVCC: Mason Hayes 14-136; Vedial Johnson 18-95; Tucker Carter 6-20; Domanick Turner 3-28; Jack Brown 2-0; Drew Hellriegel  1-6; Derel Walker 1-12; James Jackson 1-1 .

RECEIVING —  NEO: Tre Stearns 1-14; Louis Durant 2-7; Gerald Howse 1-20; Kameron Doolittle 4-65; Ronnie Price 3-29; Michael Thompson 1-2; Antonio Johnson 1-12; Jalen Hearron 1-12. TVCC: Domanick Turner 3-21; Jack Brown 5-137; Derel Walker 2-69; Vedial Johnson 3-33; James Jackson 1-30; Adrian Henderson 1-34; Buddy Nunn 2-17; K’Sean Wesley 1-6.

PASSING — NEO: Clayton Mitchem 7-22-77-1-1; Beau Marsaln 7-14-84-0-0; Antonio Jenkins 0-1-0-0-0. TVCC: Tucker Carter 18-23-347-4-0.