NMMI Sports Press
The New Mexico Military Institute Broncos [1-1] dropped their first conference game of the season against the Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals [1-1] by a final score of 39-7 at Colt Field on Saturday.
The Broncos struck first for their only score of the game on a 27-yard toss by Gavin Hardison to wide receiver Quantavius Moore. This put the Broncos up 7-0 with 39 seconds left in the first quarter.
The next two scores were posted by Trinity Valley, first a touchdown after a nine-play, 84-yard drive to tie the score up 7-7. Then with 36 ticks left in the first half, the Cardinals added a field goal to head into the locker room up by three, 10-7.
In the second half it was all Cardinals as they scored 29 unanswered points in route to a 39-7 victory.
“They are a really good team,” said head Bronco coach Joe Forchtner about the Cardinals. “We knew we would have to play very good football to win and we just didn’t. I think it was a wake-up call for our guys and what can happen if you don’t play well.”
Despite the score, TVCC had less than 70 more yards of total offense than NMMI: 402 vs. 337. The difference in the score was more than the result of the turnover category - NMMI had five turnovers while TVCC had just two.
“We turned the ball over too many times and got a little sloppy on defense. You can’t get away with that against good teams. We didn’t turn the ball over once last week – that’s got to be the recipe for us, taking care of the ball.”
The top ball carrier for the Broncos was Tyreik Campbell - he had 55 yards on 12 attempts - and the top receiver for the Broncos was Fred Jackson who caught five passes for 38 yards.
Two bright spots on the defensive side for the Broncos were defensive end Aaron Donker and linebacker Jarod Banks. Donker had four tackles behind the line of scrimmage for a total of 28 yards including three sacks; Banks lead the Broncos in tackles with four solo and eight assists, and also had a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Next up for the Broncos will be another conference match, this time on the road against Kilgore College. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm CDT on Saturday September 8th.
“They are one of the best coached teams in the league,” said coach Forchtner about Kilgore. “They play really hard and they also have a really good defense. We have got to have a better week of practice if we want to be successful.”