ATHENS —
It’s official — the Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals are going bowling.
The No. 10 Cardinals (8-2) on Tuesday were officially invited to play in the Citizens State Bank Bowl in Pittsburg, Kansas, on Sunday, December 4. The game will be held at Carnie Smith Stadium on the campus of Pittsburg State University.
TVCC will face the No. 3 Butler Community College Grizzlies (10-1) in the game. Butler has won 10 consecutive games after a season-opening defeat to Navarro.
That game was a rematch of the NJCAA National Championship, a game in which Navarro won the title with a 13-12 win over the Grizzlies at Pittsburg State.
“This feels great,” TVCC head coach Brad Smiley said. “There’s only eight bowls and nine games, and very few teams get this opportunity. ... There’s a lot of fine, deserving teams around the country that aren’t in one right now that are done for the year.
“I’m just happy for (our players). I’m excited for them to have this opportunity.”
The Cardinals last played in a bowl game in 2005 — a 24-14 win over NE Mississippi in the Pilgrim’s Pride Bowl held in Mount Pleasant, Texas.
The Cardinals lost only two games this season — and both just happened to be against the toughest teams in the country. Their first loss came to No. 1 Blinn in Brenham, a 40-37 setback, on Oct. 15.
On Oct. 29, the Cardinals knocked off Navarro, 55-51, at Bruce Field. The following week, Navarro got its revenge in a 42-16 win over TVCC — a game in which conference offensive MVP Tucker Carter did not suit up at QB for the Cards due to a concussion suffered the previous week.
Navarro went on to win the conference championship with a 33-29 win over Tyler — which had upset Blinn in the conference semifinals the previous week to knock it out of championship contention.
A-bowling they will go!
Here’s a look at TVCC’s all-time football bowl record. The Cardinals enter this year’s game with a seven-game bowl winning streak:
YEAR BOWL RESULT
1948 Little Oil Bowl Wharton 49, TVCC 0
1958 Industrial Bowl Del Mar (Calif.) 14, TVCC 12
1959 Hospitality Bowl Pearl River, MS 30, TVCC 0
1962 Texas JUCO Bowl TVCC 30, Trinidad, CO 13
1965 Junior Rose Bowl Fullerton, CA 20, TVCC 15
1966 Junior Rose Bowl TVCC 40, Pasadena, CA 13
1967 NJCAA Bowl Arizona Western 20, TVCC 7
1968 Wool Bowl Grand Rapids, MN 24, TVCC 0
1983 Garland Shrine Bowl NE Oklahoma 11, TVCC 10
1984 Jayhawk Bowl Coffeyville, KS 35, TVCC 34
1988 Texas JUCO Shrine Bowl TVCC 66, Holmes, MS 35
1993 Real Dairy Bowl TVCC 42, Ricks, ID 13
1994 Texas JUCO Shrine Bowl* TVCC 24, NE Oklahoma 17
1997 Red River Bowl* TVCC 42, Garden City, KS 16
1999 Red River Bowl TVCC 48, Navarro 14
2002 Heart of Texas Bowl TVCC 33, Jones, MS 22
2005 Pilgrim’s Pride Bowl TVCC 24, NE Mississippi 14
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