Cardinals halt 3-game skid, clinch postseason berth

By Benny Rogers Sports Editor

The Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals picked the perfect time to halt a three-game losing streak.

Using a balanced offensive attack, the Cardinals rolled to a 48-27 win over the Tyler Junior College Apaches Saturday afternoon at Bruce Field to clinch a Southwest Junior College Football Conference playoff berth.

TVCC, which improved to 5-3 overall and 3-3 in the conference with the win, will be the No. 4 seed when the playoffs begin Saturday, Nov. 8. The Cardinals will travel to face the No. 1 seed — the winner of this week’s showdown between No. 1-ranked Navarro and No. 5-ranked Blinn.

The Cardinals wrapped up the playoff berth by virtue of their wins over Northeastern Oklahoma and Tyler, both 2-4. Arkansas Baptist, which hosts the Cardinals this week, is also 2-4 but ineligible for postseason honors this year.

While the Cardinal defense took over after withstanding a first quarter in which the Apaches controlled the ball with their ground game, the TVCC offense came to life in a big way.

Using short, underneath routes in front of the Tyler secondary, the Cardinals were both efficient and productive through the air and ultimately created lots of running room for DeSoto freshman tailback Chad Winbush.

But before Winbush ran his way through and around the Tyler defense behind an offensive line that took over from the second quarter on, sophomore quarterback Pat Cook and freshman wide receiver Chris Young combined to have their way with the Apaches.

Time and again, Cook hooked up with Young on a combination of short routes. Young took it from there, twice all the way to the end zone to complete scoring plays of 62 and 72 yards.

Young caught seven passes for 171 yards.

Cook completed 13-of-19 passes for 244 yards and three touchdowns.

Winbush assaulted the Apaches for 191 yards on 15 carries. He scored on runs of 30, 19 and seven yards.

Tyler, which ran 24 plays in the opening quarter compared to the Cardinals’ eight, went on top first, taking the opening kickoff and marching 71 yards in eight plays for a 14-yard O’Bryan Bell touchdown.  Bell scored later in the quarter on a seven-yard run for a 14-7 lead.

TVCC moved into the lead to stay with just over a minute left in the first half. Cook hit Young on a shallow crossing route and Young, picking up blockers along the way, sprinted away from the Apaches for a 27-20 halftime lead.

While the Cardinals were balanced offensively with 311 yards on the ground and 244 passing, the Apaches were one-dimensional. Tyler, behind a committee of backs, rushed for 315 yards and passed for 57 on 10 completions.

Both teams turned the ball over once. The Cardinals had a pass intercepted in the end zone in the first quarter and Tyler lost a fumble to Jonathon Blackshire midway in the fourth quarter.

In Saturday’s other conference games, it was Kilgore 34, NEO 0; Navarro 55, Arkansas Baptist 6; and Blinn 56, Cisco 14.

The TVCC-Arkansas Baptist game Saturday is set to kick off at 3 p.m.

Other games on the final weekend of conference play are Navarro at Blinn, NEO at Tyler and Cisco at Kilgore. All games begin at 3 p.m.