Matt Davis scored on a 10-yard quarterback keeper with 19 seconds left to give No. 10 Tyler Junior College a dramatic 31-28 victory against Blinn on Saturday night at Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium.
The score came after Blinn’s Myles Curl returned a fumble 97 yards for a touchdown with 1:25 remaining to put the Buccaneers ahead in front of a shocked home side. On the return Curl recovered a bobbled fumble by Apaches running back Terrance Taylor and took off the other direction as TJC tried to put the game away.
But the Apaches began their winning drive at Blinn 42 and needed only six plays to retake the lead and improve to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference. Blinn fell to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in conference.
Davis, a Texas A&M transfer, finished with 17 carries for 132 yards and two touchdowns, plus completed 14 of 21 passes for 143 yards and another pair of scores. Apaches running back Leroy Dobbins had 14 carries for 146 yards while receiver Lamar Carraway caught 10 passes for 104 yards and a TD.
Blinn’s Klartel Claridy had 32 carries for 141 yards.
Blinn had first-and-goal from the 2 with about seven minutes remaining, but an errant snap resulted in a fumble that TJC recovered. The fumble followed back-to-back Apaches turnovers.
The first half was back-and-forth.
Robert E. Lee graduate Lumi Kaba made a 29-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter to give the Apaches a 17-14 halftime lead. The kick capped a half in which Davis completed touchdown passes for Carraway (47 yards in the first quarter) and Joshua Reynolds (6 yards in the second).
Three plays before the second touchdown, Davis split two Blinn defenders downfield and broke free for an impressive 43-yard touchdown that was called back because of holding.
Blinn scored both of its first-half touchdowns in the second quarter, thanks to a 1-yard Klartel Claridy run with 11:25 remaining and a 7-yard Carlos Smith reverse with :56 showing.
The second score capped an 11-play drive that started at the Buccaneers’ 20 and consumed almost four minutes.
Davis finished the half 7 of 9 for 90 yards through the air, plus ran for 60 yards on nine carries. Dobbins had seven carries for 94 yards.
Claridy had 13 carries for 86 yards.
In other juco games, Trinity Valley defeated Cisco 42-21; Navarro won over Kilgore 35-21; and Northeastern Oklahoma 42, Southeast Prep 10.
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No. 10 Tyler Junior College 31, Blinn 28
Blinn 0 14 7 7 —28
TJC 7 10 7 7 —31
First Quarter
TJC – Lamar Carraway 47 pass from Matt Davis (Lumi Kaba kick), 2:56
Second Quarter
BC – Klartel Claridy 1 run (Kade Robinson kick), 11:25
TJC – Joshua Reynolds 6 pass from Davis (Kaba kick), 4:42
BC – Carlos Smith 7 run (Robinson kick), :56
TJC – FG Kaba, :00
Third Quarter
TJC – Davis 33 run (Kaba kick), 11:49
BLI – Darrion Landry 9 pass from Garry Kimble II (Robinson kick), 9:04
Fourth Quarter
BLI – Myles Curl 97 fumble return (Robinson kick), 1:25
TJC – Davis 10 run (Kaba kick), :19
BC TJC
First Downs 18 22
Rushes-Yards 50-143 42-323
Passing Yards 174 145
Comp.-Att.-Int. 13-24-1 15-23-1
Punts-Avg. 6-39.5 4-33.5
Fumbles-Lost 4-2 3-2
Penalties-Yards 5-40 10-107.5
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Blinn, Klartel Claridy 32-141, Spencer Cowley 4-14, Carlos Smith 1-7, Garry Kimble II 9-6, Logan Vinklarek 3-3, Team 1-(-28). Tyler, Leroy Dobbins 14-146, Matt Davis 17-132, Terrance Taylor 10-36, Randy Price 1-9.
PASSING – Blinn, Kimble II 9-15-1—137, Vinklarek 4-9-0—37. Tyler, Davis 14-21-0—143, Price 1-2-1—2.
RECEIVING – Blinn, Smith 4-62, Darrion Landry 3-69, Kaylon Melancon 3-17, Josh Robertson 1-13, Derick Brown 1-10, Claridy 1-3. Tyler, Lamar Carraway 10-104, Jonathan Epps 3-27, Joshua Reynolds 2-14.