#11 Apaches fall at #3 Kilgore 55-18

Jack Stallard-Longiview News Journal  (on Twitter: @lnjsports )

KILGORE - The No. 3 ranked Kilgore College Rangers guaranteed themselves a playoff game - at home - with a convincing 55-18 win over No. 11 ranked Tyler Junior College in the 131st renewal of junior college football's biggest rivalry on Saturday at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium.

Cam Peters tossed five touchdown passes, backup quarterback Tyler Webb added a TD strike and Michael Phoenix put the exclamation point on the win with an 88-yard punt return that caught everyone besides Phoenix napping.

The win moves Kilgore to 6-1 overall and 5-1 in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference with a road trip to Blinn next week as the only remaining regular season game on the schedule. A win in Brenham would give the Rangers the regular-season title and homefield advantage throughout the four-team playoffs.

KC can finish no worse than second, which would still guarantee a home playoff game.

Tyler drops to 6-2 and 4-1 with the loss and is still alive in the playoff chase with a home date against Navarro looming next week.

Peters finished the day by completing 11 of 13 passes for 216 yards and five touchdowns, and Webb came off the bench to hit on 3 of 4 attempts for 71 yards and one TD.

Chris Marshall caught a pair of TD passes, with Phoenix, Zeek Freeman. Dominique Williams and Melvin Polk all adding TD grabs.

The Rangers finished the day with 441 yards of total offense.

Tyler, which had 272 total yards, was led by Josh Thomas, who completed 17 of 30 passes for 234 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Tray Taylor caught five passes for 122 yards and a touchdown.

Tyler led early in the game when the opening drive of the contest stalled and Christian Baxter came on to drill a 47-yard field goal for a 3-0 Apache lead at the 10:29 mark of the first period.

Kilgore answered three minutes later with a 17-yard scoring toss from Peters to Marshall, and made it 14-2 with 3:25 left in the first quarter when Peters nd Freeman hooked up on a 58-yard touchdown strike for a 14-3 lead.

The Apaches made it 14-5 early in the second when a snap on a Kilgore punt sailed out of the end zone for a safety, but the Rangers scored 27 unanswered points to take control of the contest.

Peters tossed a 22-yard TD pass to Marshall with 4:14 left in the second quarter to give the Rangers a 21-5 lead at the half, and then connected with Williams for 25 yards and Phoenix for 9 yards in the third before former Kilgore High School product Trae Epps broke loose on a 65-yard touchdown run down the KC sideline with 1:47 left in the third to stretch the lead to 41-5.

An 81-yard touchdown pass from Thomas to Taylor with just 21.3 seconds left in the third made it 48-11, and after Webb hit Polk on a 67-yard TD pass for the Rangers on the first play of the fourth quarter to give KC a 48-11 lead, Thomas found Shatarius Williams open and hit him for a 41-yard TD pass.

With just over a minute remaining, the Apaches punted and Phoenix fielded the ball at the Ranger 12-yard line. He hesitated briefly as if he was giving up on the play, but then bolted through a big hole up the middle and cut down the KC sideline to take the return 88 yards and make the final 55-18.

Follow Jack Stallard on Twitter: @lnjsports

                                                        TJC                     KC

First Downs                                         15                     22

Rushes-Yards                                  37-38               36-157

Passing Yards                                     259                   269

Total Yards                                         297                   416

Co-Att-Int                                    17-29-0             15-18-0