Cardinals demolish Cisco, 41-14

Saturday, September 05, 2009

The Cardinals soundly defeated Cisco 41-14 in their home opener Saturday night to stay unbeaten.

The 12^th-ranked Cardinals kept their record unscathed through two games Saturday night with a 41-14 trouncing of Cisco Junior College’s Wranglers in a non-conference clash before a capacity home crowd at Bruce Field.

Coach Brad Smiley’s Cardinals are off this week in preparation for their Southwest Junior College Football Conference opener at home Saturday, Sept. 19, against Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. Game time is 3 p.m.

Chad Winbush and Josh Johnson rushed for two touchdowns each as the Cardinal offense amassed 311 yards, rushing for 162 and passing for 149. Garrett Beal also tossed a pair of touchdown passes.

Winbush staked the the Cardinals to a 14-0 lead on scoring runs of four and 13 yards. Chris Young caught a 70-yard bomb from Beal for a touchdown with just under a minute left in the opening quarter for a 21-0 lead.

Cisco scored a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter on a 16-yard pass and one-yard run to trim the lead to 21-14.

Johnson, who led the Cardinal ground game with 97 yards on 14 carries, crashed into the end zone from one yard out with 1:56 left in the first half to give the Cardinals a 28-14 lead after Ernesto Guerra’s fourth PAT.

Beal teamed up with Jared Pickett for a 16-yard scoring pass late in the third quarter and Johnson raced in from 29 yards out with 52 seconds left in the game to round out the scoring.

Cisco managed 287 yards of offense on 180 rushing and 107 passing.

The game was the 48^th meeting between the Cardinals and Wranglers. The Cardinals now lead the series 40-8-0.

The two teams are scheduled to play again Saturday, Sept. 26, in a conference game in Cisco. Game time is 7 p.m.