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September 2, 2008

TVCC 48, DODGE CITY 0 - Saturday spankin’

Cardinals halt six-game losing streak with blowout of Conquistadors

By Benny Rogers Sports Editor

Dodge City Community College’s Conquistadors couldn’t get the heck out of Bruce Field fast enough Saturday night.

At least not until the Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals had administered a good old-fashioned 48-0 whipping on them in the season opener for both teams.

Second-year TVCC head coach Brad Smiley’s squad halted a six-game losing streak with the win, which also represented the Cardinals’ first in an opener since 2002.

Though their performance wasn’t perfect, but it was plenty good enough to give the Cardinals hope for the season. While they amassed 417 yards of offense and held Dodge City to 142, the Cardinals were penalized 12 times for 100 yards and turned the ball over once on a fumble.

Two of the flags came at the most inopportune times, wiping out punt returns for touchdowns of 74 (Darnell Williams) and 85 (Brian Johnson) yards.

Still, TVCC had way too much for the Conquistadors.

The Cardinal defense dished out a dose of punishment Dodge City will no doubt not soon forget, especially quarterback Colby McGill, who spent much of the game running for his life. He managed to leave alive, but not before he was tackled eight times for losses totaling 50 yards.

TVCC held the Conquistadors to 45 yards on the ground and 97 through the air.

On the other side of the ball, the Cardinals underscored Smiley’s assessment going into the season that playmakers were far more abundant than last year. Big plays weren’t necessarily the order of the game, but the potential was certainly evident all over the place.

Nine different players ran the ball for TVCC, picking up 214 yards. DeSoto freshman Chad Winbush led the way with 75 yards and a pair of scores on 11 carries.

The Cardinal ground game produced three other scores — two by sophomore fullback William Pittman and another by sophomore tailback Marcus Mann.

When Cardinal quarterbacks Pat Cook and Ryan Balentine went to the air, Austin freshman Chris Young was the favorite target. He caught nine passes for 78 yards.

Cook and Balentine were steady leading the offense. Both directed scoring drives and neither turned the ball over. Cook finished hitting 9-of-18 for 115 yards. Balentine completed 6-of-11 for 88 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown to Cornelilus Wilson with 1:29 left in the game and the Cardinals up 41-0.

Tarcellus Mitchell returned a punt 44 yards for a touchdown with 8:30 remaining in the game, giving the Cardinals the 41-0 advantage.

Sophomore lineman Jason Thompson had a big game for the TVCC defense. He recorded three sacks and was in on several tackles. Jacob Fincher, Dan Jackson and Damien Washington also had a sack each.

Kingsley Akinwole and Tim Hayter each recovered a fumble and Johnson came up with a live ball on a kickoff.

Tyler freshman kicker Nestor Varona was 6-of-6 on PATs. Another attempt never materialized due to a slow snap from center.

TVCC led 14-0 at the half and blew the game open with a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter.

The Cardinals are scheduled to return to action Monday, Sept. 8, in Pineville, La., against the Louisiana College JV.

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