EUSTACE — There’s no place like home — unless the lights at home go out and won’t come back on.

In that case, if you’re the Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals, there’s no place like Eustace.

On a stormy East Texas evening, the Cardinals may have saved their season with a wild 31-27 homecoming win over the Cisco Wranglers Saturday.

So what if homecoming didn’t actually finish at home?

As the legend of 2010 Homecoming at TVCC grows, it should be remembered as a game that lasted six hours, 25 minutes, weathered two large thunder storms and spanned 12 miles in two stadiums.

The storms arrived at Bruce Field just after 5 p.m. and chased away the packed homecoming crowd that, to that point, had watched the Cardinals (5-3, 3-2 in SWJCFC) squander an early 14-3 lead en route to a 27-14 deficit with 7:20 left in the third quarter.

The storm that hit Athens knocked out the power at Bruce Field and in the surrounding neighborhoods, forcing coaches to look for a new location to finish the game.

Officials at Eustace ISD answered the mayday call from TVCC officials, and once the Cardinals arrived, they answered the mayday call from their coaches who knew a loss would have likely eliminated the team from the postseason.

It might as well have been a new ballgame once the teams re-started at The Boneyard. TVCC ripped off 17 unanswered points to get the win, and a Cisco offense that had stacked up 302 yards and 27 points at Bruce Field managed just 65 yards on 24 plays and zero points after arriving in Eustace.

“The longer our kids sat around (during the three-hour weather delay), the more they started talking about what an incredible story this was going to be, what a great comeback it’s going to be,” TVCC Head Coach Brad Smiley said. “Maybe the delay worked in our favor. Our kids got their heads screwed on right. ... I hope Athens has power now, but this couldn’t have worked out any better tonight.”

The Cardinals got the win despite being without sophomore running back Josh Johnson, who, as of last Friday, was no longer enrolled at TVCC due to “academic issues,” according to campus officials.

What seemed like a crushing blow to the conference’s top rushing offense turned out not to be devastating. Instead, freshman Ryan Smith ran for 120 yards on 21 carries and Jeremiah Williams had a pair of rushing touchdowns as the offense accounted for 261 yards on the ground on 53 attempts.

Williams said Johnson had an emotional meeting with the team prior to his departure from campus.

“We just stayed together as a team. We had to come together as a family to get this win,” Williams said. “After the lights went out, we just had to stay focused.”

Said Smiley: “That’s why we brought 83 to camp and we practice so many every day. To us, it’s all about the guy who is going to step up. It’s tough, because Josh is such a talented player, but we’ve got a lot of talented players.”

With the Cisco offense (without its own leading rusher Jamal Nero, due to injury) crippled by a rejuvenated Cardinal defense after the resumption of play,  the game turned quickly.

After a TVCC fake field goal from the Cisco 14 was stuffed with 3:27 left in the third quarter, the Cardinals rebounded to score on three of their next four possessions to rally back.

Si’Darius Blackshire’s 17-yard touchdown run on a quarterback draw on third and three cut Cisco’s lead to 27-21 late in third quarter, and TVCC grabbed the lead on Williams’ 1-yard touchdown run with 12:09 left in the game. The Cardinals were given a short field by punter Brad Dunavant, who landed a kick at the Cisco 2 moments before the go-ahead TD.

The Wranglers (5-3, 2-3) went three-and-out on their next series, and did so on five of their seven series after the delay.

Any chance of a final Wrangler rally was spoiled by TVCC’s Kent Ganious, who intercepted Cisco’s Jacob Morgan near midfield with 1:55 left in the game.

CARDINALS 31, WRANGLERS 27

    CJC    TVCC

First Downs    14    21

Rushing Yards    25-44    53-261    

Passing Yards    323    186    

Total Yards    367    447    

Passes Attempted    49    26    

Passes Completed    23    13    

Interceptions    1    1    

Fumbles/Lost    0/0    1/1    

Penalties    6/47    11/80    

Punts    7/33.2    6/35.8    

Score By Quarters

Cisco    3    21    3    0    —    27   

TVCC    14    0    7    10    —    31

Scoring Summary

TVCC — Jeremiah Williams 17 run (Jaimie Salazar kick) 12:00

CJC — Cory McNeil 23 FG 6:45

TVCC — Si’Darius Blackshire 13 run (Salazar kick) 3:38

CJC — Jacob Morgan 49 pass to Quincy Scott (McNeil kick) 12:52

CJC — Jemarcus Blake 2 fumble return (McNeil kick) 8:20

CJC — Morgan 1 run (McNeil kick) 0:05

CJC — McNeil 39 FG 12:22

TVCC — Blackshire 17 run (Salazar kick) 1:34

TVCC — Williams 1 run (Salazar kick) 12:09

TVCC — Salazar 42 FG 4:16

Individual Statistics

RUSHING — CJC: Deandre Wilson 21-45; Jacob Morgan 2-0; Eric Watson 1-(-1). TVCC: Ryan Smith 21-120; Jeremiah Williams 17-44; Si’Darius Blackshire 9-31; Jack Brown 2-25; Jared Pinkett 1-3; Derel Walker 1-7; Chris Franklin 1-37; Jaimie Salazar1-(-6).

PASSING — CJC: Jacob Morgan 23-49-323-1-1. TVCC: Si’Darius Blackshire 13-26-186-0-1.

RECEIVING — CJC: Deandre Wilson 5-20; Quincy Scott 4-110; Clifton Bellard 2-21; Kali Rashaad 7-120; Jarman Johnson 4-36; Tavian Parnell 1-11; Eric Watson 1-5. TVCC: Jared Pickett 3-79; James Jackson 1-7; Jeremiah Williams 2-22; Ryan Smith 1-0; Adam Watson 3-47; Chris Franklin 1-7; Rodney Samuel 2-24.