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  • TVCC head coach Brad Smiley (right) will leads his team into battle in Kansas as the Cardinals open up the 2011 season against Independence Community College. Smiley has three straight wins over Kansas schools in the Texas-Kansas Challenge. Mickey Garcia/Athens Review

    Smiley and the Cards head to Kansas

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August 26, 2011

JUNIOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Can they make it four?

Cardinals hope to continue success vs. Kansas schools

Jayson Larson The Athens Review

ATHENS — Junior college football coaches from Texas love to say the best teams in the country just so happen to play in the Lone Star State. The coaches in the Jayhawk Conference in Kansas probably like to say the same thing.

Fact of the matter is, Texas and Kansas have run all over the rest of the nation in Division I football — combining to win the last five NJCAA national championships. So brag on ...

The Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals — ranked No. 14 in the nation entering the season — also have a little room to brag. As the Cardinals (6-5 in 2010) head into their regular season opener Saturday at Independence (Kan.) Community College, they carry with them a three-game winning streak in what has been dubbed the “Texas-Kansas Challenge.”

The Cardinals have lost to a Kansas school just once during the tenure of fifth-year head coach Brad Smiley — in 2007, to Garden City. Since then, Smiley’s bunch is 3-0 and has outscored their Kansas opponents, 126-29. That batch of success includes the Cardinals’ 51-16 win over Independence at Bruce Field.

When the Cardinals try to make it four straight against Kansas schools this Saturday, they will do so with a new quarterback, a set of new receivers and quite a bit of experience back on the defensive side of the ball.

With preseason workouts complete, Tucker Carter — a state champion at Class 5A Allen High School — looks like he’ll get the starting nod. On the defensive side of the ball, Smiley and defensive coordinator Will Reed have nine returning starters back.

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