NMMI Sports Press
The Bronco defense racked up four sacks and 15 tackles for loss Saturday night at the Wool Bowl, but mounting injuries took their toll on the NMMI offense with leading rusher Joel Jones leaving the game early among others.
"Credit to Cisco, they showed up and did what they're supposed to do," said NMMI head coach Kurt Taufa'asau. "I'm not going to make any excuses. We just didn't get the job done here and it's disappointing."
The Bronco offense undid the good plays by the defense, turning the ball over four times, including two fumbles and a pick for Bronco quarterback Kobe Muasau. The sophomore signal caller from the state of Washington had one of his worst performances in an NMMI uniform, going 13-of-35 for 156 yards, a pick and a garbage time touchdown. He was also sacked five times, an odd day for a player with top-10 national rankings in almost every major statisical category.
Jones, who rushed for 174 yards and three scores against then No. 6 Tyler a week ago to earn national player of the week honors, left Saturday's game after two carries and the Broncos averaged just 2.6 yards per carry.
NMMI teased a strong offensive day when they received the opening kick and orchestrated a 15-play scoring drive, but it stalled in the red zone and the Broncos settled for a Joseph Newton-Grain field goal to take a 3-0 lead.
From there, the Broncos managed a mere 76 yards until their final possession when Muasau completed a 42-yard bomb to former Goddard Rocket receiver Diego Nunez, who made an impressive contested snag and held on as he fell on his back, and then found Andre Hall all alone for an 18-yard touchdown.
Despite going three-and-out seven times, the Wranglers scored 21 unanswered points, including two touchdowns in a two-and-a-half minute span in the second quarter, aided by a Hall kickoff return fumble.
In his comments to his team after the game, Taufa'asau reiterated a point he makes every week — in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference, any team can beat you. The last time NMMI lost to Cisco was in 2021. It was the Broncos only loss on the way to their first national title in school history.
"The turnovers killed us, like they did in our other losses to Snow and Kilgore," he said. "We had some young guys on defense that fought all day to keep us in the game, but we were missing the turnovers for us. Now we have a big road trip against a team that doesn't have a good record, but they're no pushover.
"If we're going to go to their place and leave with a win, we need to prepare the right way and go out and execute, because that's what we didn't do today."
The Broncos play the Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Golden Norsemen in Miami, Oklahoma next Saturday at 3 p.m. Any streaming information will be provided next week via the NMMI Athletics social media accounts.