ATHENS — The Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals are still working out a few kinks, but their end result through five games is all head coach Brad Smiley could ask for.

The ninth-ranked Cardinals are off to their best start in 14 years after a 35-0 win over the Arkansas Baptist College Buffaloes Saturday at Bruce Field on homecoming day.

The last time the Cardinals were 5-0 was 1997 — the year they won the school’s second and last NJCAA Division I football championship.

After scoring touchdowns on their first two drives, the Cardinals didn’t find the end zone again until the third quarter. Five turnovers — including three inside the Arkansas Baptist 15-yard line — hindered the offensive effort.

Last week, the Cardinals had to survive five turnovers in a come-from-behind win over Tyler Junior College.

“Some of our youth is showing, and it’s surprising that it’s still showing,” Smiley said. “We were just out of synch, but we’ll be ready to rock and roll (next Saturday) when conference resumes.”

The Cardinals will host Northeastern Oklahoma Saturday at 3 p.m., beginning a grueling back stretch of the schedule that, after the NEO game, takes them to Blinn and to Cisco before closing the regular season at home against rival Navarro.

Navarro, the defending national champion and No. 1-ranked team in the country, fell to No. 2 Blinn Saturday night in Brenham, 31-26. Blinn is certain to take over the country’s No. 1 ranking this week.

The Cardinals will need all their firepower to weather that stretch. Smiley thinks his running game is starting to become a force with two backs starting to pull away from a crowded stable. Freshman Vedial Johnson carried 22 times for 154 yards and two touchdowns while another newcomer, Rufus Mason, finished with 87 yards on 14 carries.

All told, the Cardinals rushed for 312 yards — and that was behind a banged-up offensive line that, already shorthanded, lost 6-5, 335-pound right guard Melvin Guillory during the ABC game.

Smiley praised his offensive line and said the running game is going to have to keep producing for the Cardinals to be successful.

“The key to our offense is balance and keeping the defense guessing,” he said. “We’ve had some growing pains at running back, but I think Vedial Johnson and Rufus Mason are starting to separate themselves from the pack.”

The Cardinals burned only three minutes before taking a 7-0 lead on quarterback Tucker Carter’s 3-yard touchdown run. Johnson scored the next two — finding the end zone late in the first quarter and then again in the third quarter — to put TVCC ahead, 21-0. Mason’s 2-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter and Carter’s 23-yard pass to Jack Brown capped the scoring.

Carter, who entered the game with just two interceptions against 10 touchdowns, was picked off three times. Two of those came on tipped passes, and ABC (1-5) missed a chance to score for the first time since September 10 when Jimmy Jean’s 75-yard interception return for touchdown was nullified because he held the ball out to celebrate during the play. Beginning this season, unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for excessive celebration take points off the board rather than a 15-yard penalty on the ensuing kickoff.

The Cardinal defense, by the way, was stellar. The Red Rage sacked ABC quarterbacks five times — including a pair from defensive tackle Ty McKinney. The defense also forced three turnovers, including an interception by Chris Porter.

CARDINALS 35, BUFFALOES 0

    ABC    TVCC

First Downs    8    31

Rushing Yards    41-9    52-312    

Passing Yards    86    200

Total Yards    95    512

Passes Att.    24    26

Passes Comp.    11    13

Interceptions    1    3

Fumbles/Lost    1/0    6/2

Penalties    15/145    9/90

Punts    10/39.5    2/49.0

SCORE BY QUARTERS

ABC    0    0    0    0 — 0

TVCC    14    0    14    7 — 35

SCORING SUMMARY

TVCC — Tucker Carter 3 run (Saul Martinez kick) 12:06

TVCC — Vedial Johnson 1 run (Martinez kick) 4:51

TVCC — Johnson 7 run (Martinez kick) 11:58

TVCC — Rufus Mason 2 run (Martinez kick) 4:03

TVCC — Carter 23 pass to Jack Brown (Martinez kick) 10:36

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — ABC: Michael Belin 16-6; Jimmy Grant 8-13; Tremayne Johnson 8-14; Justin Billiott 6-(-20); DeAndre Hall 2-(-4); Jeremy Lyons 1-0. TVCC: Vedial Johnson 22-154; Jack Brown 3-22; Tucker Carter 9-39; Rufus Mason 14-87; Mason Hayes 2-17; Drew Hellriegel 1-12.

RECEIVING — ABC: Zephyr Jean 2-11; Cordell Collins 1-4; Ashdone Bailey 1-8; DeAndre Hall 2-32; Jimmy Grant 3-19; Demarquo Sadners 2-12. TVCC: Adrian Henderson 3-23; Derel Walker 1-28; Jack Brown 3-41; Drew Hellriegel 3-74; James Jackson 1-19; K’Sean Wesley 1-3; Vedial Johnson 1-12.

PASSING — ABC: Michael Belin 1-2-8-0-0; LeRoy Hollins 0-1-0-0-0; Justin Billiot 10-21-78-0-0. TVCC: Tucker Carter 13-26-200-3-1.