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  • TVCC running back Rufus Mason (28) is grabbed from behind by Tyler’s Broderick Jackson (24) during a play Saturday night. The Cardinals overcame five turnovers to win at Rose Stadium for the first time since 1997. Mickey Garcia/scoreboardphotos.com

    Run, Rufus, run

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September 26, 2011

TVCC 35, Tyler JC 28: One wild ride

Four-hour game sees 10 combined turnovers, Cardinals’ first win in Tyler since ’97

Jayson Larson The Athens Review

TYLER — A carnival-type atmosphere. Wild rides. Thrills and spills.

No, not the nearby East Texas State Fair. Within the gates of Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium, all of the above were included during the Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals’ conference game against Tyler Junior College’s Apaches.

Somehow, the Cardinals survived five turnovers (four on their first four possessions), a 14-0 deficit and the loss of their own 14-point lead in a crazy 35-28 win over the Apaches (2-2) Saturday night.

It was TVCC’s first win at Rose Stadium since Oct. 25, 1997 — the year of the Cardinals’ second and last national football championship. Tyler had won 13 of its last 16 meetings against the Cardinals — ranked No. 9 in the nation — heading into Saturday’s game.

“In my career I’ve never had a start like that — four straight turnovers,” TVCC head coach Brad Smiley said. “And then we actually tied it 14-14 at the half. It was just an unbelievable team victory.”

The wildness began almost immediately.

Saul Martinez’ plant foot slipped on the opening kickoff, causing him to squib the ball on the turf. TVCC recovered what essentially became an onside kick.

On the next play, TVCC quarterback Tucker Carter was intercepted. The next two Cardinal drives ended with fumbles by Carter and then Rufus Mason.

TVCC (4-0) had a shot to turn things around when the defense stopped Tyler’s third offensive series with a goal-line stand that saw the Apaches fail to get into the end zone on four plays from the 3-yard line or better.

But the next play just brought more misery when TVCC backup quarterback Deric Davis’ pitch went errant and bounced into the end zone, where Tyler’s Rikko Harris recovered it for the game’s first score.

Ridge Wilson’s two-yard run 45 seconds into the second quarter pushed that lead to 14-0.

Four straight Cardinal touchdowns followed — a Carter six-yard pass to Jack Brown and a 68-yard scoring toss to Derel Walker that tied the game at 14-14 with 3:27 left in the second quarter.

Vedial Johnson’s 70-yard touchdown run less than a minute into the third quarter broke the tie, and Davis’ 15-yard touchdown pass to James Jackson then put TVCC up by two touchdowns, 28-14, with 1:30 left before the end of the quarter.

Tyler, which had failed to run the ball effectively in the face of a smothering defensive front, went to the air in earnest at that point and climbed back into the game. Former Sulphur Springs standout Tyrik Rollison, who had once been set to play at Auburn, led the Apaches on a 13-play, 96-yard scoring drive to start the fourth quarter. The first 12 plays of the drive were pass attempts, with Rollison’s 1-yard touchdown plunge serving as the only play that stayed on the ground.

The Cardinals had to punt away their next possession, and Rollison hit Jalen Claiborne on a 77-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the Apaches’ next drive to tie the game.

TVCC was forced into a third-and-14 play on its ensuing drive, and it would have had to punt were it not for a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty called against Tyler. Rather than a punt, the drive stayed alive and Carter finished it off with a one-yard touchdown run of his own that proved to be the game-winning score.

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