CISCO UPSETS KC | Back-and-forth game, but Wranglers escape with a 35-30 win

By SHAWN CHRISTOPHER

And so, Kilgore College’s opportunity at an unbeaten season is over.

But the Rangers’ goals are all still in front of them, in spite of an unpredicted loss at home to Cisco on Saturday.

After all, KC won the last two Southwest Junior College Football Conference championships – and they weren’t undefeated in either season. And last year, KC made the NJCAA’s final four, with a chance to play for the national championship.

That doesn’t take away the sting of the moment, though, a 35-30 loss for the nation’s fifth-ranked team to Cisco on Saturday here at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium at Kilgore to the unlikely Wranglers (2-1), a scrappy bunch who went back and forth with KC all day, but didn’t take the lead for good until just over a minute left.

KC trailed, 27-23, as Kilgore’s own Adan Reyes hit a 23-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter to get the Rangers within four points.

On Cisco’s next series, Rangers defensive lineman Matt Freeman blasted Cisco quarterback Landon Vessel on a sack, jarring the ball free. Freeman’s D-line mate, Marquise Hill, got the loose ball for KC at Cisco’s 33.

Three plays later, KC quarterback Tyler Webb connected with Devontae Mozee, of Jonesboro, Louisiana, with 13:12 left. Reyes’ extra point was good, and gave the Rangers a 30-27 lead.

Cisco battled, and eventually got its chance. A punt backed KC up against its goal line, and an avalanche of Wranglers collapsed on KC’s offense. Running back Gary Maddox was – well, wrangled – in the end zone for a safety, and got Cisco within a point, 30-29, with 4:23 left in the game, and the safety meant they’d also get the ball back.

Fast-forward three game-time minutes later. In a third-and-4 at KC’s 25, with 1:24 left, Vessel’s pass downfield to the end zone was incomplete. A flag came out – not from an official on the play, but from one away from it, giving Cisco a first down at KC’s 14.

The first down play with 1:10 left was an incomplete pass. But the second one wasn’t. Cisco receiver Dayvion Bluitt caught it, made a spin move, and got into the end zone with 1:01 left. Cisco had reclaimed the lead, although the two-point conversion was no good, and the Wranglers were up, 35-30.

The game’s final sequence…

KC’s final drive began at the 22, with 54 seconds left. On second down, Maddox made the catch and got out of bounds with a first down and 28 seconds left.

From their own 33, Webb scrambled, pitched it back, and Rangers receiver Devontae Mozee ended up with it. The ball was marked at the 35, and KC called a time out with 17 seconds left.

Webb’s pass was incomplete, leaving 11 seconds left.

On the next play, he dumped it off to Maddox, who scooted out of bounds at midfield with just over four seconds left.

Webb hurled it downfield, but it was slapped down at the Cisco 13, as time expired.

The game was back-and-forth the entire way.

A pass interference penalty in the end zone on Cisco helped Kilgore College get onto the scoreboard first. The Rangers got a sweep from receiver Melvin Polk, the sophomore receiver and return specialist from Weatherford, and three plays later, on a third-and-goal from the 1, officials ruled Maddox was shy of the goal line, bringing up a fourth-and-goal.

Maddox, the running back from Euless, bulled through the middle for the 1-yard score – not even really a yard – with 1:58 left in the first quarter. An unsportsmanlike conduct flag was thrown on Cisco post-play, and Reyes, the former Kilgore High School standout, booted the extra point to give KC the 7-0 lead.

Cisco would strike back, though, on the very last play of the quarter, a 51-yard touchdown pass to Donte Zeno, tying the game at 7-all.

KC’s ensuing drive never really got going, and after a punt, the Wranglers, trying to pull a pretty large upset of the two-time defending conference champs, took over at midfield, right at the 50.

The Rangers’ defense wouldn’t allow breathing room, either, and Cisco special-teamers couldn’t keep the ball from going into the end zone on the punt.

After possession-tag, Cisco finally pushed through, a 1-yard quarterback-sneak by Vessel to give the Wranglers a 14-7 lead with 4:41 left in the half.

A fumble recovered by KC defensive lineman Otis Santellana of Edna with 2:16 left allowed the Rangers to take over in Cisco territory, with 3:14 left and two time-outs, plus the new, added two-minute time-out.

KC starting quarterback Webb, the Waco Connally product, made the Wranglers pay for the mistake, a 34-yard TD pass to Tanner Harrison, a sophomore from St. Martinville, La., tying the game at 14 with 1:13 left.

A 41-yard pass play allowed Cisco to get inside KC’s 5-yard-line, and they were able to actually get in, the go-ahead score, a touchdown pass from Vessel to tight end Bryson Nealy, with 14 seconds left. That broke the tie yet again, and gave scrappy Cisco a 21-14 lead. KC would take a knee after the kickoff, and go into the half down by that score.

KC’s first possession of the second half ended in a punt, and the second, with a turnover, an interception.

That interception led directly – like the very next play – to an 82-yard touchdown pass from Vessel to Jamaal Hall Jr. for the Wranglers, a huge play because it allowed Cisco to take a two-touchdown, 27-14 lead on KC with 10:37 left in the third.

KC, getting both quarterbacks involved in the game as they have all season, got a pass from Seth Mouser to Sam Mbake to the Cisco 31-yard-line, midway through the third quarter, with about 6 ½ minutes left in the third. Mouser, looking toward Harrison deep along the Cisco sideline, heaved the ball there and Harrison grabbed it, hauling it in at the Wranglers’ 3.

Maddox went into the end zone untouched on the next play, a 3-yard touchdown pass with 5:05 left. The extra point was blocked, leaving KC down a touchdown, 27-20.

The next Cisco series: disaster for the Wranglers, in the form of KC defensive back Jaylen Webb, who picked off Vessel at midfield and returned it to the Wranglers’ 24, a 24-yard return, setting up KC with great field position with 3:03 left in the third.

Behind the offensive line of Etueni Ropati, La’Rayvion Wright, ZoMaryon Bryan, Marcus Smith, and Austin Yeager, two carries by Maddox and the Rangers were at the Cisco 11. On third down, though, Webb dumped it off to Maddox, a pass out in the flat, and Cisco linebacker Tyler Masters tripped Maddox up just when it appeared Maddox would get free, putting KC in fourth and long on the final play of the third quarter, setting up that exciting final fourth quarter.

The Rangers fall to 3-1 on the season, and they’ll step out of conference next Saturday, Oct. 5, hosting Community Christian College, a 3 p.m. kickoff. That’s also the Rangers’ Hall of Fame Game. We’ll have more on that this week here on ETBlitz.com.