Tyler, TX – Fourth-quarter heroics had become the norm in the last two conference games for the NJCAA's top-ranked team in the nation, the New Mexico Military Institute Broncos.
Two weeks ago, on the road against No. 6 Kilgore College, NMMI completed two 61-yard TD passes in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter to secure a 31-24 win.
Last week at home against No. 13 Blinn, NMMI came back from a 21-10 deficit with another pair of fourth quarter touchdowns.
This week on the road against Tyler Junior College, however, the grindhouse of playing in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference finally caught up with NMMI, with the Broncs falling to the Apaches 20-12.
NMMI had their chances to put the ball into the end zone with six drives ending inside the Apache 30-yard line, but a very tough Tyler defense kept NMMI from ever crossing the goal line. Instead, on those six drives, the Institute waked away with four field goals, and two interceptions.
The NMMI defense was the driving force behind three of those FGs.
The first came after the Broncos recovered a fumbled punt on the Tyler 30. After moving the ball 10 yards in six plays, William Testa kicked a 37-yard FG to put NMMI up 3-0 with 11:34 left in the first.
Tyler tied the game, 3-3, with their own FG with 14:09 left the second quarter, then went up 6-3 with another FG before the end of the half.
The Black Swarm defense managed two more takeaways in the third quarter: one forced fumble by Tyler Martinez, recovered by Vili Taufatofua at the Tyler 27; and an interception by Darius McClendon at the Tyler 34.
Both turnovers resulted in Testa field goals, from 37 and 38 yards out, and the Broncos had reclaimed the lead, 9-6, with 8:20 left in the third.
And then the NMMI defense finally succumbed to the Tyler aerial attack, giving up TD passes of 47 and 14 yards at the 5:49 and 1:21 marks in the third quarter.
With Bronco fans waiting and hoping for the fourth-quarter heroics to happen again, the NMMI offense put together their best drive of the game, moving the ball 64 yards in nine plays. Au'mhryaun Brown had 48 of those yards on five rushing attempts, with Jeiel Stark gaining another 15 yards on a pair of carries.
But again the drive stalled inside the red zone at the Tyler 10, and Testa kicked his fourth and final FG of the game, from 27-yards out.
Two more NMMI defensive stops gave the ball back to the offense, but the seven combined plays of the Bronco's last two series resulted in just four total yards.
"In this conference and at this level, you can't win games if you can't take care of the ball," said NMMI head coach Kurt Taufa'asau. "We had too many turnovers. And we've got to do a better job of scoring and getting into the end zone. We had several opportunities inside the red zone and came away with only field goals."
NMMI's defense was led by outside linebacker Martinez with seven solo tackles and seven assisted tackles, including two for losses, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and two quarterback hurries.
The offensive side was led by Brown with 15 carries for 87 yards. Tight end Quadarius Harrison also had four catches for 43 yards.
"Every week is a wake-up call. Today we were not the better team. Tyler did what was necessary to win the game and we didn't," continued coach Taufa''asau. "We're not gonna complain or hang our heads. We're just gonna learn from it and focus on what's ahead. We still have our season in front of us. We've just got to get back to the drawing board and get ready for Cisco."
As coach Taufa'asau said, NMMI's next game is another SWJCFC match-up, on the road against the Cisco College Wranglers on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 2 p.m. CDT.
The Wranglers' head coach is John O'Mera, former head coach at both NMMI and Eastern Arizona College. Cisco is 3-3 overall and 1-3 in the conference.
NMMI's record stands at 5-1 on the season and 3-1 in conference.