The eighth-ranked Cardinals maintained their stranglehold on the lead in the SWJCFC Saturday with a 24-14 win against the 12th-ranked Kilgore College Rangers at Bruce Field.
With their sixth straight win, the Cardinals improved to 6-1 overall and 5-0 in conference. They lead Tyler and New Mexico Military Institute by a full game with two games to go.
Defending NJCAA champion and fifth-ranked NMMI is next for the Cardinals. The homecoming game is scheduled Saturday at 1 p.m. at Bruce Field.
After trailing 7-0 at the half, the Cardinal offense came alive on the strength of a pair of Darion Peace touchdown passes. Peace, who was 28-of-41 for 216 yards in extremely windy conditions, hit Trent Hudson for a 47-yard score and Jared Jackson for a 52-yarder that sealed the win with 2:04 remaining.
Joe Sniffin, Corey Kelley and Daniel Williams were among the leaders of another sterling performance by the Cardinal defense. Sniffin had 12 tackles and Kelley and Williams 10 each.
The Cardinals limited the Rangers to 181 passing yards and 135 on the ground.
SCORING SUMMARY
- KILGORE - 1Q, 2:48 - Donerio Davenport 53-yard run. Kolby King kick good. - 7-0
- TVCC - 3Q, 14:02 - Matthew Duncan 1-yard run. Jake Gaster kick good. - 7-7
- TVCC - 3Q, 5:27 - Darion Peace 47-yard pass to Trent Hudson. Jake Gaster kick good. - 14-7
- TVCC - 4Q, 12:39 - Jake Gaster 32-yard field goal. - 17-7
- KILGORE - 4Q, 10:06 - Donerio Davenport 1-yard run. Kolby King kick good. - 17-14
- TVCC - 4Q, 2:04 - Darion Peace 52-yard pass to Jared Jackson. Jake Gaster kick good. - 24-14