The Athens Review
CISCO —
The Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals found more misery out west Saturday night.
Much of it was of their own doing.
Turning the ball over three times and unsuccessfully executing an onside kick to start the second half, the Cardinals fell to the Cisco Junior College Wranglers at Chelsey Field for a second straight year. TVCC fell to 1-1 with a 24-16 loss.
The Cardinals twice lost fumbles inside the Cisco 40 in the opening half. But the fatal blow was with just under five minutes left in the game when Josh Johnson fumbled the ball into the end zone on third and goal from the four. Cisco recovered for a touchback.
TVCC also had five-yard Johnson touchdown run called back in the first half on a holding penalty. Instead, the Cardinals settled for a 28-yard Jaimie Salazar field goal to cut Cisco’s lead to 7-3 with 4:46 left in the opening quarter.
Cisco scored on its first possession, capping a 64-yard drive with a 29-yard Jamal Nero run.
The TVCC defense gave the Cardinals a 10-7 lead early in the second quarter when Kent Ganious stepped in front of a Jacob Morgan pass and turned it 15 yards.
Both teams added a field goal in the closing 48 seconds. McNeil split the uprights from 40 yards for the Wranglers and Salazar was true from 32 yards with two seconds left in the half for a 13-10 TVCC lead.
The Cardinals attempted to catch the Wranglers by surprise with an on-side kick to begin the second half. But a TVCC player touched the ball before it travel the required 10 yards and the Wranglers took over on the Cardinal 38.
Cisco made the Cardinals play, quickly moving in for a score. Morgan tossed an 11-yard pass to M.J. Porter to move the Wranglers into a 17-13 lead.
Sophomore quarterback Si’Darius Blackshire marched the Cardinals in a position to answer with a 45-yard pass to Chris Franklin and a 24-yarder to Jeremiah Williams. But the drive stalled inside the 10-yard line and TVCC settled for a 23-yard Salazar field goal with seven seconds remaining in the third quarter.
The Wranglers responded with a four-yard scoring strike from Morgan to Quincy Scott. McNeil’s PAT made it 24-16 with 10:36 to go.
TVCC drove from its own 33 to the Cisco four, where Johnson lost the ball as he attempted to dart in for the score with 4:44 left.
Cisco improved to 2-0.
The two teams are scheduled to meet in a Southwest Junior College Football Conference contest Oct. 23 at Bruce Field.
The Wranglers are scheduled to face New Mexico Military Institute this week. The Cardinals are open. They return to action Sept. 18 at Kilgore in a conference opener at 7 p.m. TVCC will be looking for its first road win since their 2009 season opener at Dodge City.
WRANGLERS 24, CARDINALS 16
Score By Quarters
TVCC 3 10 3 0 — 16
Cisco 7 3 7 7 — 24
Scoring Summary
CISCO — Jamal Nero 29 run. (Cory McNeil kick good)
TVCC — Jaimie Salazar 28 FG
TVCC — Kent Ganious 15 interception return. (Salazar kick good)
CISCO — McNeil 40 FG
TVCC — Salazar 32 FG
CISCO — M.J. Porter 11 pass from Jacob Morgan. (McNeil kick good)
TVCC — Salazar 23 FG
CISCO — Quincy Scott 4 pass from Morgan. (McNeil kick good)
