Photo by Rick GrayKC’s defense forced a staggering eight turnovers to lead the Rangers to a 27-10 win over the Cisco Wranglers last Saturday, and a berth in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference playoffs for the fourth straight year.
The victory, KC’s third straight, improves its overall record to 4-5. The Rangers earn a rematch with top-seeded Navarro College (9-0, 6-0), which took over the No. 1 ranking in the nation with a 23-20 win over then No. 1 Blinn College.
“We hit tough times early,” said KC head coach J.J. Eckert. “We needed to find a way to come together and get things done and they’ve shown they can do that. In this league, anything can happen. We hope we’ve saved our best football for this time of the season.”
Junior Osunde spearheaded the dominant KC performance on defense, racking up three interceptions, two pass breakups and seven tackles. Chris Tate and A.J. Bronson each picked off a pass while Qualon Childress, Darren Woodard and Jason Fitch had fumble recoveries
Eckert attributes the turnover avalanche to a shift in focus.
“We changed our emphasis,” Eckert said. “We’ve stressed how much of a difference they can make. They’ve got a taste of it and then gone and really worked hard to make sure it happens.”
The KC offense was sluggish for most of the game, but quarterback Hans Cook led two fourth-quarter scoring drives to put the game away.
“Our offense didn’t play very well, but there’s never a bad win,” Eckert said. “We’ve got to work on some things. We had some missed assignments that you wouldn’t expect to have in game No. 9, but hopefully we understand that and can work hard to prepare and be able to correct those things.”
Cook hit Trae Hawkins on a 9-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, which ended with the score tied, 7-7. Osunde scored the go-ahead points on a 47-yard touchdown return in the second quarter.
KC led 13-7 into the fourth quarter, when Cook connected with Kelvin Hall on an 18-yard scoring toss. Terrance Cannon, who finished with 42 yards on eight carries, added a 2-yard touchdown run to cap off the scoring for the Rangers.
Cook finished with 167 yards on nine of 15 passing. He also added 41 yards rushing on 14 attempts.
T.C. Henry paced the Ranger receiving corps with 77 yards on three receptions.
Bronson led the defense with 10 tackles and Kedy Enabulele had a pair of sacks.
KC held the normally potent Wrangler ground game to 69 yards on 36 carries.
“They had a running back (Ketarus Stanton) who was second in the nation in yards per game, but we held him to 48 yards,” Eckert said. “We took away their bread and butter and made some plays.”
// J.C. Derrick, Executive Editor