Cardinals fall short to Tyler, 36-33

Monday, October 26, 2009

The Cardinals dropped a 36-33 decision to Tyler Saturday night.

The Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals spotted the 17^th-ranked Tyler Junior College Apaches a 16-0 lead before rallying in the fourth quarter to come up on the short end of a 36-33 score in a Southwest Junior College Football Conference contest at Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium Saturday night.

The Cardinals, eliminated from the playoff race with their fifth straight loss, scored 14 points in the fourth quarter and missed a 55-yard field goal as time expired.

“Our guys have no quit in them,” third-year head coach Brad Smiley said Monday morning. “For some reason, we just have a habit of spotting teams big leads and then fighting back to make a game of it.

“ Our defense played well, especially in the second half. It was good to see those kids play as unit the way they did. They came up with stops and gave us a chance to win the game.”

The loss dropped the Cardinals to 3-5 overall and 1-5 in conference play. Tyler, 6-2 on the year, improved to 3-2 in the conference to clinch its first playoff berth in four years.

The Cardinals are scheduled to close the season at home Saturday in a non-conference game against Arkansas Baptist College. The homecoming game starts at 3 p.m. at Bruce Field.

DeSoto sophomore running back Chad Winbush had another huge game for the TVCC offense. He ran the ball 24 times for 233 yards.

After Tyler went uip 16-0, the Cardinals struck for their first points less than a minute into the second quarter on a 13-yard Bo Walker run. Garrett Beal hit Chris Young with a pass on the two-point conversion to trim the Tyler lead in half.

TVCC was moving in for a potential tying score, but turned the ball over. The Apaches then drove 85 yards for a score to go up 23-8.

The Cardinals scored twice more in the quarter on a 37-yard Beal pass to Young and a 27-yard Ernesto Guerra field goal. Austin Luke added a two-point conversion run after the Beal-to-Young connection.

Tyler led 30-19 at halftime.

The Apaches’ lead grew to 36-19 in the third quarter before the Cardinals rallied in the fourth on a 10-yard Beal touchdown pass to Darnell Williams and one-yard Walker run.

Beal was 14-of-36 passing for 144 yards. He was intercepted twice.

Young was the top TVCC receiver with seven catches for 63 yards.

The Cardinals had 500 yards of offense.