Wide receiver Sam Hodges, a freshman from Klein, and quarterback Jeremiah Crawford, a sophomore from Mineola, talk before Saturday's game with Texas A&T at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium. TJC won 70-0.

With the lights of the East Texas State Fair dazzling in the background, the Tyler Junior College Apaches put on a show of their own Saturday night.

The Apaches had four takeaways and totaled more than 500 yards of offense en route to a 70-0 win over Texas A&T before 800 rain-soaked fans at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium.

It was the third straight win for the Apaches as they improved to 3-2 on the season. They will celebrate homecoming next Saturday, hosting New Mexico Military in a 7 p.m. kick.

The Drillers, a prep school out of southeast Houston, fell to 1-3-1.

TJC scored 28 points in the first quarter. With heavy storms fast approaching, the teams agreed to a 15-minute first quarter, a 12-minute second quarter and 10-minute quarters in the third and fourth periods.

K’Vonte Jackson, a sophomore from Angleton who previously played for A&T, led the Apaches ground attack with 145 yards and four touchdowns on 13 carries. He scored on runs of 1, 4, 4 and 52 yards.

Brownsboro native Kevon Thompson, a freshman running back, had 128 yards rushing and two touchdowns on five attempts. He scored on runs of 33 and 21 yards.

Also, scoring runs for TJC were by Willie Phillips (3, 35) and Trenton Kennedy (15). Otis Lanier scored the first TD of the night on a 39-yard pass from August DeBiase.

TJC’s defense was stellar, holding the Drillers to 61 total yards (5 rushing and 56 passing).

Diarva Brown, a sophomore from Paris, snagged his fifth interception of the season. Also, Clayton Rutz, a freshman from Flower Mound, had an interception.

Also, Sherry Durand, a sophomore linebacker from Houston, and Chris Sanders, a sophomore lineman from Austin, recovered fumbles.

Will Jones, a sophomore from Dallas, had three sacks.

SMOKE SIGNALS: In Southwest Junior College Football Conference games: Kilgore upset Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, 31-24; Trinity Valley shocks Blinn, 42-21; and Navarro won over Cisco, 42-31. … Saturday, Sept. 29 games include: Trinity Valley (2-3, 2-2) at Cisco (3-1, 1-1), 1 p.m.; Kilgore (3-2, 2-2) at Texas A&T (1-3-1), 3 p.m.; Navarro (3-2, 2-2) at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (3-1, 1-1), 6 p.m.; and New Mexico Military (2-2, 0-2) at Tyler (3-2, 2-1), 7 p.m.  

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TJC 70, Texas A&T 0

Texas A&T  0   0    0   0 —  0

Tyler        28 21  14   7 — 70

First Quarter

TJC — Otis Lanier 39 pass from August DeBiase (Blake Patterson kick), 13:44

TJC — Willie Phillips 3 run (Patterson kick), 8:22

TJC — K’Vonte Jackson 1 run (Patterson kick), 5:28

TJC — Phillips 35 run (Patterson kick), :14

Second Quarter

TJC — Jackson 4 run (Patterson kick), 8:17

TJC — Trenton Kennedy 15 run (Ryan Harwell kick), 5:10

TJC — Kevon Thompson 33 run (Patterson kick), :20

Third Quarter

TJC — Jackson 4 run (Harwell kick), 5:19

TJC — Thompson 21 run (Harwell kick), 1:19

Fourth Quarter

TJC — Jackson 52 run (Harwell kick), 6:21

EST. ATT. — 800.

                            A&T            TJC

First Downs               7            26

Rushes-Yards            22-5       45-393

Passing Yards            56          115

Com-Att-Int              8-18-2    7-11-0

Punts-Ave                 7-23.6    0-0

Fumbles-Lost            3-2         1-1

Penalties-Yards         5-25       8-70

Individual Statistics

Rushing — Texas A&T, Devaziea Wilson 3-21, Cedrick Montgomery 6-7, Trey Grimes 4-3, Matt Morrissey 9-(-26). TJC, K’Vonte Jackson 13-145, Kevon Thompson 5-128, Trenton Kennedy 9-86, Willie Phillips 6-54, Jeremiah Crawford 3-43, August DeBiase 3-24, Otis Lanier 1-7, Daveon Curtis 1-5, Cameron High 1-3, Deon Collins Jr. 1-0, Team 2-(-2).

Passing — Texas A&T, Matt Morrissey 7-16-1-56, Devaziea 0-2-1-0. TJC, August DeBiase 4-7-0-70, Jeremiah Crawford 3-4-0-45.

Receiving — Texas A&T, Cedrick Montgomery 4-43, Taverns Mitchell 2-13, Trey Grimes 1-0, William Fisher 1-0. TJC, Otis Lanier 3-71, Jamir Whitelow 2-16, Eli Akin 1-21, Eric O’Quinn 1-7.