CORSICANA — Now it’s official: the Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals are in the playoffs.

Despite a 27-25 loss to the No. 3 Navarro Bulldogs — a game in which TVCC led midway through the fourth quarter — the Cardinals qualified for the Southwest Junior College Football Conference playoffs.

TVCC’s near upset of the Bulldogs earned it the right to face the Blinn Buccaneers (7-2) in the SWJCFC semifinals next week in Brehnam. Kickoff will be set for 3 p.m., with the winner advancing to the conference title game the following week.

Head Coach Brad Smiley — whose team is 5-4 this season — will be looking for his first win over Blinn in four seasons. He’s also winless against Navarro in five tries.

But he nearly got that elusive first win Saturday.

Josh Johnson’s two-yard touchdown run with 8:46 left in the game gave the Cardinals a 25-21 lead. The drive was made possible by Keivon Gamble’s interception near midfield with 10:18 left in the game.

Johnson will head into the playoffs as a 1,000-yard rusher. He ran for 114 yards Saturday to hit 1,048 yards for the season to go along with 15 touchdowns.

But the Bulldogs showed why they’re one of the country’s top teams on their ensuing drive. Taking the ball back with 8:46 left in the game, the Bulldogs drove 80 yards for the winning score. On their way, the ate up nearly the entire clock, leaving just 58 ticks left when quarterback Roddy Green hit Jimario Piro with a four-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal.

Because the Bulldogs’ two-point conversion run failed, the Cardinals were in position to drive down the field far enough to try what could have been a game-winning field goal. But Si’Darius Blackshire was sacked by Navarro’s Joey Searcy to end the game.

The Cardinals’ upset chances were thwarted by several missed opportunities.

On the team’s first drive, a Navarro 27-yard punt into the wind set up the Cardinal offense at the Navarro 37. Five plays later, TVCC faced fourth-and-one from the Navarro 17. Rather than attempt a field goal, the Cards opted to go for it, handing the ball to defensive end Austin Luke for his first carry of the season. He was stuffed for no gain and TVCC turned the ball over on downs.

Another crucial series of events came late in the third quarter, as Navarro was driving down the field with a 14-10 lead. On first down from the TVCC 40, Green, the Navarro quarterback, was dropped for an 11-yard loss on a sack by TVCC’s David Curley.

Green dropped back on second-and-21 and was sacked again for what appeared to be another double-digit loss back into Bulldog territory. But TVCC was flagged for a facemask on the play.

So instead of third down and very long, the Bulldogs got an automatic first down. They scored three plays later on a 46-yard touchdown pass from Green to Jordan Jolly.

NOTES: Brad Smiley has now led the Cardinals to the conference playoffs in two of his four seasons as head coach. ... Kilgore beat Tyler, 49-28, Saturday to clinch to conference’s fourth and final seed. Kilgore will face Navarro Saturday in Corsicana at 3 p.m. ... Cisco, which started the season 5-0, lost its final four games to miss the conference playoffs.

BULLDOGS 27, CARDINALS 25

    TVCC    NC

First Downs    18    21

Rushing Yards    42-129    50-201    

Passing Yards    166    122    

Total Yards    295    323    

Passes Attempted    24    22    

Passes Completed    15    14    

Interceptions    1    1    

Fumbles/Lost    1/0    1/0    

Penalties    6/40    7/63    

Punts    5/28.6    3/39.0    

Score By Quarters

TVCC    0    3    7    15    —    25    

Navarro     0    7    7    13    —    27

Scoring Summary

NC – DePauldrick Garrett 62 run (Juventino Sanchez kick) 8:25

TVCC – Jaimie Salazar 36 FG 0:01

TVCC – Josh Johnson 1 run (Salazar kick) 13:58

NC – Roddy Green 46 pass to Jordan Jolly (Sanchez kick) 3:46

NC – Garrett 19 run (Sanchez kick) 14:13

TVCC – Si’Darius Blackshire 70 pass to Chris Franklin (Blackshire run) 13:57

TVCC – Josh Johnson 2 run (Salazar kick) 8:46

NC – Green 4 pass to Jimario Piro (run fails) 0:58

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: TVCC – Josh Johnson  25-114; Austin Luke  1-0; Ryan Smith  3-(-6); Si’Darius Blackshire  12-15; Adam Watson  1-6. NC – Roddy Green  14-16; Adrian Nelson 2-10; Jeremy McKnight 1-6; DePauldrick Garrett 23-162; Prince’ton Collins 7-26; Marquez Clark 1-15; Jimario Piro 1-(-11); team 1-(-17).

RECEIVING: TVCC – Chris Franklin 5-98; Josh Johnson 5-18; Jeremiah Williams 3-26; Adam Watson 1-10; Dominique Rabun 1-14. NC – DePauldrick Garrett 4-25; Brad Croak 5-41; Jahmai Coleman 1-(-1); Jimario Piro 2-11; Jordan Jolly 1-46.

PASSING: TVCC – Si’Darius Blackshire 15-24-166-1-1. NC – Roddy Green 14-21-122-2-1; Adrian Nelson 0-1-0-0-0.