Trinity Valley spoils Snow homecoming, 39-30

ByRobert Stevens

EPHRAIM—Trinity Valley Community College scored 20 points in the fourth quarter Saturday night to beat Snow College, 39-30, spoiling homecoming for the Badgers.

Snow College’s Jadyn Buckner evades opponents from Trinity Valley Community College during Saturday’s homecoming game, which resulted in a 39-30 victory for Trinity. Photo by Kyle Parry.

With the win, the Cardinals, from Athens, Texas, improved to 3-1 overall and 3-0 in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference. Snow dropped to 2-2 and 1-2 in conference play.

A crowd of 2,412 watched a game that kicked off at 8 p.m. and ended at 10:25 p.m.

Snow built an 11-0 lead in the first quarter. Dylan Story hit Jadyn Buckner for a 15-yard touchdown, and Grayden Dumas ran in the two-point conversion. Ian Sanches kicked a 43-yard field goal with 13 seconds left in the quarter.

Trinity Valley answered with 19 points in the second quarter. Jackson La Tour threw touchdown passes of 22 yards to K.J. Madison and 31 yards to Dilon Tallie, and JaMari Stewart blocked a punt out of the end zone for a safety.

Cash Hernandez closed the half with a 44-yard field goal, sending the Cardinals to the locker room ahead 19-11.

Neither team scored in the third quarter.

Snow’s Sanches missed a 35-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, and Whitney Fuller of Trinity returned the kick 87 yards for a touchdown. Trinity missed the extra point, putting the score at 25-11.

The Badgers answered with an 11-play, 80-yard drive, which Buckner finished with a two-yard run. Sanches kicked the extra point to cut the lead to 25-18 with 7:45 left.

Trinity Valley had 41 seconds to strike back. La Tour hit Malick Djikalou for a 60-yard touchdown. On Snow’s next possession, Trinity Valley’s Xavier Mayfield intercepted a Dylan Story pass and returned it 60 yards for another score at the 6:13 mark, pushing the lead to 39-18.

After that, Story found Buckner for a 5-yard touchdown with 1:53 left, but the two-point run by Kade Haroldsen failed.

Neither team scored again until Story hit Denver Fauntleroy for 45 yards and a touchdown, but no extra points, to set the final margin of 39-30.

For Snow College, Story finished 20 of 39 passing attempts for 186 yards, including three touchdowns, with just one interception. Buckner carried 22 times for 122 yards and a touchdown and caught five passes for 42 yards and two more scores. Snow ran for 243 yards on 53 carries and finished with 429 total yards.

Louie Hamilton added 56 yards on 11 carries for Snow, and Isaiah Myaard ran four times for 14 yards.

For Trinity Valley, La Tour connected on 23 of 40 passes for 303 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. Djikalou caught two passes for 108 yards; Madison caught seven for 66 yards; and Courtlin Scott caught five for 35 yards.

The Cardinals ran for 96 yards on 26 carries, led by Jalan Campiti with 29 yards on seven carries.

Kicking hurt both teams. For Snow, Hernandez missed a 37-yard field goal in the third quarter to go with his 44-yard make, and Sanches missed from 29 and 35 yards to go with his 43-yard make.

Snow’s other receivers were Makai Peterson with four catches for 37 yards; Rockwell Magleby with two for 22 yards; and Kade Haroldsen with three for 20 yards.

Trinity Valley ran 68 plays to Snow’s 92 and held the ball for 20:52. Snow converted five of five fourth downs and eight of 21 third downs. Trinity Valley committed 16 penalties for a loss of 164 yards, while Snow had nine penalties for a loss of 70 yards.

Snow hosts Tyler Junior College of Tyler, Texas, Saturday at 7 p.m. Sept. 26 at Terry Foote Stadium.