KC WINS WILD HOMECOMING GAME! | Rangers come back, score twice in fourth quarter, for 22-14 win over Blinn
By SHAWN CHRISTOPHER
Special to ETBLITZ.COM
If all homecoming games were as exciting as Saturday’s Kilgore College game against Blinn, there would be at least two homecomings a year.
And coach Willie Gooden would likely have heart problems.
The Rangers got a blocked field goal and two fourth-quarter touchdowns to come back and beat Blinn, 22-14, in a homecoming contest that was – well, a lot more exciting than KC fans might have liked. But they did get to go home happy.
Rangers quarterback Jahrik Jones found a wide-open Devontae Mozee with 1:04 left, a 34-yard touchdown pass that gave KC a 20-14 lead.
And then, the extra point attempt went awry – but ended fantastic for KC. As kicker Anthony Montsivais came up to kick, the ball got away from holder Adan Reyes. But Reyes was able to grab the ball, and he was pressured, but he got a throw off. And Jordan Brown caught it for the most unlikely two-point conversion maybe in KC football history.
The conversion gave the Rangers a 22-14 lead, again with 1:04 left.
Blinn took over at its own 35, with two time-outs. But the Bucs wouldn’t get to use them: quarterback Rylan Wooten, looking for a receiver, lost the handle on the ball. And KC defensive lineman Izeal Jones, who had recovered the ball on a blocked field goal just moments before, fell on this ball, too.
KC had the ball at Blinn’s 35, with 49 seconds left. Blinn had two time-outs, but KC gave the ball to former Euless Trinity standout Gary Maddox, and Maddox – behind Rangers’ offensive linemen Austin Yeager, Damian Martinez, Etueni Ropati, La’Rayvion Wright and ZoMaryon Bryan – reeled off two runs to help run out the clock. On the second one, Maddox took half of Blinn’s defense with him, as they pulled and pushed, but the KC line helped and Maddox went all the way to the Blinn 14.
Jones came out in victory formation and ran out the clock for the KC win.
Around the conference, Tyler Junior College, the leader in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference, lost to Navarro, 49-24, and Trinity Valley beat Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, 44-21.
The Rangers’ win allowed them to remain in second place in the conference standings with just one game left in the regular season. KC (6-2 overall, 5-2 in conference play) will go to NEO in Miami, Okla., next Saturday, a 3 p.m. kick.
The conference playoffs for its top four teams begin the following Saturday, Nov. 16.
On Saturday against Blinn, KC trailed after Blinn scored with 63-yard run by Kelton Weathers to cap a 71-yard drive with 9:52 left in the first quarter. But the Rangers got a good drive going with eight minutes left in the first quarter.
That good drive came to a stall at the Blinn 18-yard-line, after a false start and a sack moved KC back to the 32, and into a fourth down and very long.
On top of that, the Rangers used two time outs on the drive, with just over three minutes left in the first quarter, so only one time out for the rest of the half.
Jones went for it all, a long pass to Devontae Mozee inside the Blinn 10-yard-line, but he overshot Mozee just a bit, just out of his reach, and the Buccaneers took over at their own 32, a turnover on downs.
Any momentum Blinn got out of that was halted, though, when the Rangers forced a punt, and then on first down, Cedric Harden took the jet sweep all the way down to Blinn’s 7-yard-line, a 76-yard gain. Jones would score two plays later on a 3-yard run, and after Montsivais added the point after, KC tied the game at 7-all with less than a half-minute left in the first quarter.
An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Rangers helped Blinn keep its next drive alive, and then Kevin Pierce threw Blinn quarterback for a loss on a run attempt, and put Blinn in a third-and-9.
On that third-down play, defensive linemen Otis Santellana and Jordan Jefferson sacked Wooten, forcing the punt.
The punt was a good one, and three plays later, KC was in third and 5 at its own 16. Jones threw an incomplete pass, and the Rangers were three-and-out.
Montsivais got a great punt and roll, all the way to Blinn’s 37.
The defenses stiffened the rest of the half – KC got an interception from defensive back Dorian Friend, of Spring, and got a little luck, as a field goal attempt by Blinn just before the half was no good: the ball hit the crossbar, and the teams went to halftime tied at 7.
Weathers had a huge 40-yard run to set up Devin Sampson for a short TD run, and give Blinn a 14-7 lead early in the fourth quarter.
But that’s when KC turned it on.
Jones hit Harrison for a 27-yard touchdown pass with 5:07 left, and tied the game again at 14.
KC elected to go for the onside kick, and it appeared the Rangers had gotten it, but Montsivais accidentally touched it before it went 10 yards, and Blinn took over at KC’s 44.
Blinn got nothing on first down, but Wooten scrambled for 7 to put Blinn in third and short. He couldn’t connect with Dakoda Pearson on third down, and the Bucs decided to go for the first down on fourth and 3 at KC’s 37. Wooten kept it, rolled to his left, and picked up the first down and more, 8 yards to KC’s 29.
Weathers was thrown down by KC’s defensive front on the first down play, and on second and 11, Wooten was rushed by MarQuice Hill, and his throw was off-target.
Blinn got 7 yards more on third down, but Max Nowak’s field goal kick was blocked. Izeal Jones scooped it up and ran with it, to midfield. Then, officials flagged Blinn for a late hit out of bounds trying to tackle Jones, and after a 15-yard penalty, KC got the ball at the Blinn 40 with 2:20 left.
On third down and 4, at Blinn’s 34, Jahrik Jones, making his first start as a Ranger, feigned a run, then stopped at the line of scrimmage and threw to a wide-open Mozee for the go-ahead score, and the “accidental” two-point conversion that followed.
Blinn’s fumble happened just after that, with Izeal Jones’ recovery, and then Maddox’s two runs that allowed KC to run out the remainder of the clock.
Jahrik Jones finished 5-of-11 for 94 yards and the two touchdown passes. Mozee had three catches for 46 yards and the game-winning score.
