Let's hope they're not all this close!
The TVCC Cardinals opened their season with a 37-30 overtime win over Independence Community College Saturday night. The Cardinals overcame five turnovers and being down 30-27 with just 1:36 remaining to notch their first win of 2024.
Head Coach Sherard Poteete praised his team's resilience. "The kids fought. They fought all night. When the time came that they had to make a play, they did."
Champ Harris got just three series at quarterback, but that was enough for the Army transfer to put his signature on the game. Harris went 3-for-5 for 22 yards and ran for five more in the final series of regulation to move the Cardinals into range for a game-tying 42-yard field goal by Ty Powers as time expired.
Harris followed that up by taking control in overtime and scoring the winning touchdown on an 11-yard quarterback draw.
"We talked about that through the preseason. We've got some good quarterbacks in that room," said Coach Poteete. "Diego Tello threw some really pretty touchdown passes, but turned it over a little bit. Champ came in and finished it off."
While Harris provided a spark for the offense, the Cardinal defense was the real star. Despite continually being put in bad situations because of turnovers, the defense harassed the Pirates all night. It was only after the TVCC defense wore down after being on the field a majority of the second half that Indy was able to break a couple of long touchdown runs (46, 27) by Pirate running back Breyahn Townsend for touchdowns.
But when the Cardinals really needed it, the defense stepped up big by notching two fumble recoveries on Indy's final two possessions of regulation, and then not letting the Pirates gain a single yard in overtime.
Offensively, we put the defense on the field too many times with turnovers," said Coach Poteete. "They got a little tired. But when the time came that they had to make a play, they did."
TVCC's starting quarterback Diego Tello had a feast-or-famine type of night, throwing for four long touchdowns (36, 49, 43, 73), but also throwing four interceptions and losing a fumble.
Tello was under constant pressure all night as the Pirates blitzed the Cardinals on early downs, making it hard to run the ball and chasing the quarterback out of the pocket.
Wide receiver Germonie Davis had a huge night with 131 yards receiving and a touchdown on six receptions. Devon Martin had three catches for 64 yards and a touchdown, and Jemyri Davis had four catches for 61 yards and a touchdown.
"We've got some guys that can run and we've got some guys that can get up the field," said Coach Poteete. "We did that early and were able to capitalize, and we had some chances late but we let them slip through our fingers."
In an odd scheduling quirk, the Cardinals have the next two weeks off. TVCC will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 14, when they travel to Tyler to kick off conference play. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m.
SCORING SUMMARY
-- INDY -- 1Q, 11:37 -- Isaiah Nathaniel 5-yard run. Mario Ventura kick good. -- 7-0
-- TVCC -- 1Q, 8:45 -- Diego Tello 36-yard pass to Jemyri Davis. Ty Powers kick good. -- 7-7
-- TVCC -- 1Q, 4:18 -- Diego Tello 49-yard pass to Devon Martin. Ty Powers kick good. -- 14-7
-- INDY -- 2Q, 14:22 -- Isaiah Nathaniel 1-yard run. Mario Ventura kick good. -- 14-14
-- TVCC -- 2Q, 7:58 -- Diego Tello 43-yard pass to Jaquan Lowman. Kick no good. -- 20-14
-- INDY -- 2Q, 1:30 -- Mario Ventura 27-yard field goal. -- 20-17
-- TVCC -- 3Q, 12:46 -- Diego Tello 73-yard pass to Germonie Davis. Ty Powers kick good. -- 27-17
-- INDY -- 3Q, 2:30 -- Breyahn Townsend 46-yard run. Mario Ventura kick good. -- 27-24
-- INDY -- 4Q, 12:34 -- Breyahn Townsend 27-yard run. Kick no good. -- 30-27
-- TVCC -- 4Q, 0:00 -- Ty Powers 42-yard field goal. -- 30-30
-- TVCC -- 1st OT -- Champ Harris 11-yard run. Ty Powers kick good. -- 37-30
(A special thank you to Michael V. Hannigan fo Hannigan Media for the story)
