CISCO — The Cisco Junior College Wranglers made the only touchdown in the second half stand up for a 27-24 upset of the seventh-ranked Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals in a Southwest Junior College Football Conference contest Saturday night at Chesley Field.
In suffering their first loss, the Cardinals (3-1) spotted the Wranglers (1-3) a 14-3 lead before rallying to lead 24-21 at the half. Cisco, which fell 41-14 to the Cardinals three weeks ago at Bruce Field in a non-conference game, scored what proved to be the game winner with 9:46 in the second half on a 27-yard touchdown pass to Antwon Moore.
The Cardinals had a 60-yard Chad Winbush touchdown scamper wiped out by a penalty with 10:47 left in the game.
With 6:10 remaining, the Cardinal defense held Cisco on fourth-and-eight from the TVCC 27. The Cardinals moved to the Cisco 48 in four plays, but failed to convert on a fourth-and-two and the Wranglers took over with 3:38 to go.
The Cardinals scored first on a 25-yard Ernesto Guerra field goal at the 7:13 mark of the opening quarter.
Cisco responded with a 65-yard drive, capped by a 17-yard Ketaraus Stanton scoring run. Stanton, the conference's leading rusher who set a conference record with 334 yards a week earlier in a 49-35 loss to Tyler, scored twice, but for the most part was contained by the TVCC defense. He had 117 yards in the first half and finished with around 165.
The Wranglers went up 14-3 on the final play of the first quarter when they blocked a Cody Lenz punt into the end zone and made the recovery.
That served as a wake-up call for the Cardinals. They scored three times in the second quarter.
Winbush closed an 11-play, 70-yard drive with a two-yard run at with 11:21 let in the first half.
Two plays after the ensuing kickoff, the Cardinals recovered a fumble on the Cisco two-yard line. They need just one play for Josh Johnson to cover the distance.
With 6:21 remaining, Bo Walker crashed through the Cisco defense for a seven-yard touchdown run. With Guerra’s third PAT, the Cardinals were up 24-14.
Cisco answered with a seven-yard Stanton touchdown with 17 seconds to go.
The game remained scoreless until the Cardinals lost a fumble on a punt return on their 27-yard line, resulting in the Moore touchdown.
The Cardinals, 1-1 in conference, are scheduled to be at home Saturday against No. 2-ranked and unbeaten Navarro (4-0). Navarro was a 61-28 winner over No. 17 and unbeaten Tyler in a game played Thursday night in Corsicana. Saturday's game time is 7 p.m.
— TVCC Public Information
