Apaches Stay Undefeated in Conference with Dominate Win Over Cisco

By Chase Upton 

Tyler, TEXAS- Tyler Junior College's No.15 nationally ranked football team picked up a dominant, 40-0 win over Cisco College (3-3, 3-2) on a beautiful Saturday evening at Christus TMF Rose Stadium. 

With the win, TJC improves to 5-2 on the season and 5-0 in Southwest Junior College Football Conference play. 

The win locked TJC in for their first SWJCFC conference semi-final berth since the 21'-22 season, as they can now finish this season no lower than fourth in the conference standings. The conference semi-final will be on Nov. 16, and if the Apaches can win one of their last two regular-season games, they will host the semi-final at Christus TMF Rose Stadium. 

Tyler set the tone early in their victory, opening the game with a 7-play, 78-yard drive that was capped off by a 20-yard touchdown run from RB Bryce Burgess and an extra point from Christian Baxter that gave TJC a 7-0 lead just over three minutes in. 

Less than two minutes later, defensive back Sam Fongang found himself in the right place at the right time and took a 63-yard pick-six to the house (C. Baxter PAT) to give Tyler a double-digit, 14-0 lead only five minutes and 11 seconds into the game. 

The Apaches didn't stop there. Quarterback Tre Guerra, returning from a knee injury, was subbed into the game midway through the first quarter and would go on to lead a 10-play, 76-yard drive, that he finished off himself with a 1-yard touchdown run (C. Baxter PAT) and extended the Apache lead to 21-0 just 49 seconds into the second quarter. 

TJC then got the ball back with 10:55 left in the first half, and the Apaches put together yet another beautiful scoring drive. Guerra connected with wide receiver Terrance Naulings for a 38-yard pick-up that put Tyler on Cisco's 2-yard line, and the next play RB Lavarion Logan ran in a 2-yard TD (Bryan Ramirez PAT) that officially put TJC in the driver's seat up 28-0 with 8:34 to go in the first half.  

Tyler took their 28-0 lead into halftime. 

Early in the second half, TJC defensive back Bernock Iya recovered one of the Apache's four forced fumbles of the day, giving Tyler's offense the ball spotted at Cisco's 38-yard line with a chance to drive the final nail in the coffin. 

Five plays and 36 yards later, QB Nathan Greek delivered a perfectly placed pass to the corner of the end zone, connecting with WR Hawk Patrick-Daniels for a 21-yard TD (B. Ramirez PAT), and stretching TJC's lead to 35-0. 

Tyler was gifted two late scores in the fourth quarter due to a pair of bad snaps on punts. With 12:01 remaining, Cisco's punter had to fall on an ugly snap, setting TJC up at Cisco's 5-yard line, which led to a Bryan Ramirez 20-yard field goal. Then, with 2:23 left, Cisco added the cherry on top of this blowout when they snapped the ball out of the back of the end zone for a TJC safety, sealing Tyler's 40-0 victory. 

TJC's star-studded defense forced three turnovers and held Cisco to just 187 yards of total offense en route to the Apache's first shutout of the year. 

The Apache offense set a new season high in points with 31, tallied 288 total yards, 126 passing yards, and 162 rushing yards. 

Leading the way for Tyler were RB Lavarion Logan, who rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries, RB Bryce Burgess, who added 57 yards and a touchdown on 7 carries, and K Bryan Ramirez, who went 2-for-2 on PATs and made a 20-yard field goal after stepping in for K Christian Baxter, who was sidelined in the first half due to injury. 

The Apaches look to stay undefeated in conference play next week as they host No. 9 Kilgore College (5-1, 3-1) at 3 p.m. Oct. 26 at Christus TMF Rose Stadium for Tyler's homecoming game.