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The 100th meeting of TJC and Trinity Valley was one for the ages.

The Apaches completed a Hail Mary pass in overtime, followed by their defense coming through as Tyler Junior College registered a 14-7 win over TVCC on Saturday night at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium.

With the offense struggling for most of the game, the Tribe converted a miraculous fourth-and-38 pass play that saw the football bounce off three Cardinal defenders into the hands of wide receiver Grant Peretz, who maintained control  as he fell to the ground at the 1-yard line in overtime. The pass from quarterback Tre Guerra went for 52 yards.

“Honestly, we were just looking for a prayer,” said Peretz, a sophomore from North Richland Hills. “We know we needed to score. (Guerrra) threw up a prayer and somehow I caught it. I saw him throw it and I took a look back for half a second. My job on the play is to catch it if it bobbles in the air. So that is exactly what happened.”

Two plays later (after a delay of game penalty and a 2-yard run by Guerra), Guerra hit Cam Thomas on an out pattern in the right corner for the TD. Christian Baxter kicked the PAT and Tyler had its first lead of the game.

Then it was Trinity Valley’s turn, but it was the Apaches’ bend but don’t break defense that came through. While the Cardinals more than doubled the Tyler offensive output (369-174), the TJC D came up big in crucial situations. The first came when Bernock Iya intercepted a pass in the end zone as the Athens school had reached the 1 and was attempting to go up by two touchdowns during regulation.

Then in OT, the Cardinals moved to the Tyler 13, and, in fact, moved even closer to inside the 10, but TVCC running back Rayshaun King was popped and the ball bounded back to the 13 where Bennerth Nnanna recovered for Trinity Valley. On second down, Iya tipped the ball away on a slant route over the middle. Under pressure, Cardinal QB Champ Harris scrambled but a big hit from Ziggy Loa halted him at the 6-yard line, setting up a fourth-and-3.

After a timeout, the Apaches blitzed from the left side with DB Jayveus Lyons sacking Harris, clinching the game.

“We battled. It takes everybody,” TJC Coach Tanner Jacobson said. “It takes offense, defense, special teams. I was really, really proud of our special teams. We challenged them. 

“Too many penalties. Too many mistakes. We had our No. 1 (deep) snapper go down. We had our backup snapper go down. We were on our third snapper, which is our D-end (Aeden Combest). That was kind of the theme of the night. When our backs were really, really against the wall and we needed somebody to make the play, we did just enough. Just enough to make it happen. Super, Super proud of everybody.”

TJC improves to 1-2 on the season and 1-0 in Southwest Junior College Football Conference play, while the Cardinals fall to 1-1 and 0-1.

Trinity Valley took a 7-0 in the second quarter as Jamary Williams scored on a 6-yard run. Ty Powers made the extra point.

Tyler got on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter when Thomas scored from 48 yards out on an end-around. Baxter made the PAT and the game was tied 7-7 with 12:40 on the clock.

TVCC was hurt on special teams as two times the holder mishandled the snap and the squad also missed a 39-yard field goal attempt to the right.

TJC punter Bryan Ramirez was a weapon, averaging 47.3 yards on eight kicks.

The Apaches and Cardinals, then know as Henderson Country Junior College, met for the first time in 1947. TJC now leads the series 57-43. 

In other SWJCFC action, Kilgore defeated New Mexico Military, 40-30; and Navarro won over Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, 48-21.

Tyler has a bye next week before returning to play on Sept. 28, traveling to Miami, Oklahoma to meet Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in a 1 p.m. kickoff. The Cardinals are back in action on Sept. 21, meeting Cisco in Cisco.

Tyler 14, Trinity Valley 7, OT

Trinity Valley    0   7   0   0   0 —    7

Tyler               0   0   0   7   7 —   14

SCORING SUMMARY

Second Quarter

TVCC — Jamary Williams 6 run (Ty Powers kick), 9:05

Fourth Quarter

TJC — Cam Thomas 48 run (Christian Baxter kick), 12:40

Overtime

TJC — Thomas 4 pass from Tre Guerra (Baxter kick) 

TEAM STATISTICS

                           TVCC                TJC

First downs               19                   7

Rushing             48-166             28-71

Passing                  203                103

Total                      369                174

C-A-I                14-28-1         9-23-0

Punts-Ave.         5-44.2            8-47.3

Fumbles-Lost          2-0                2-0

Penalities-Yards     12-89           10-67

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING —  TVCC: Rashaun King 19-97, Champ Harris 15-52, Chase Ramirez 5-10, Jamary Williams 8-9, Hawk Patrick-Daniels 2-6, Team 1-(-2), Diego Tello 5-(-8). TJC: Cam Thomas 2-51, Lavarion Logan 6-13, Tre Guerra 10-9, Carson Green 4-8, Terrance Naulings 1-5, Nathan Greek 2-(-2), Team 1-(-19).

PASSING — TVCC: Champ Harris 12-21-1-168, Diego Tello 2-6-0-35, Jadyn Collins 0-1-0. TJC: Tre Guerra 8-15-0-95, Nathan Greek 1-7-0-8.

RECEIVING — TVCC: Jaquan Lowman 5-93, Germoine Davis 3-51, Jemyil Davis 3-38, Jadin Hambrick 2-18, Anthony Felton 1-3. TJC: Cam Thomas 3-16, Grant Peretz 2-66, Hawk Patrick-Daniels 2-9, Terrance Naulings 1-7, Ja’Quan MaGee 1-5.