The No. 4-ranked Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals sealed a fourth straight regular season title Saturday during homecoming and Hall of Fame weekend at Bruce Field.

The Cardinals (7-1, 5-1) beat the Kilgore College Rangers, 52-40, to wrap up home field advantage throughout the Southwest Junior College Football Conference playoffs.

The playoffs are scheduled to begin Nov. 5 with the regional semifinal contest.

"It means that we have another special group of guys that are putting together a special season," TVCC coach Brad Smiley said. "We got another trophy in the case with the four-peat of the regular season title. We have three good weeks of work ahead of us to try and get another ring. Last year, we fell short of our ultimate goal. This year, we will do everything in our power to make sure we get it done this time."

The Cardinals return to action Saturday as they travel to Cisco to battle the Wranglers. Kickoff for the contest is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.

Saturday's victory marked the 56th win in the 10-year career of Smiley at TVCC. He passes NJCAA and Cardinal Hall of Fame member Bob Baccarini as the all-time winner at Trinity Valley. Smiley has a record of 56-36 at the Valley.

"I love Bob Baccarini. He is a great guy and a great man to me. I wish I would have had the opportunity to coach with him. I love his son Tony and his grandson Bryce," Smiley said. "They are a great family and he is a class guy. Obviously, to be mentioned in the same words with Bob Baccarini is very humbling."

Kilgore opened the scoring with 10:34 remaining in the first quarter on a 45-yard field goal by Alvin Kenworthy.

TVCC then answered with 21 unanswered points as Michael Curtis found Jalen Guyton on a 14-yard pass for the 7-3 lead. Caden Novikoff booted the PAT good with 8:26 remaining in the quarter.

TVCC sophomore Adam Berryman gave the Cardinals a 14-3 lead with 5:33 remaining on a four-yard touchdown run. Novikoff booted the PAT good.

In the second quarter, the Cardinals added to the lead as sophomore Cedric Battle cashed in on a six-yard run for the 21-3 lead. Novikoff booted the PAT good with 6:55 remaining.

The Rangers (4-3, 3-3) cut the deficit to 21-6 as Kenworthy hit from 35-yards out for his second field goal with 5:17 remaining.

Kilgore added another score with 2:13 remaining as Koreenza Credit scooped up a Cardinal fumble and raced 78-yards to paydirt for the 21-12 deficit at the half.

"Anything that they got, we gave it to them with the three turnovers. We felt like it should have been 35-3," Smiley said. "We bailed them out on the first drive in the first half. Everything after that was us with the turnovers and it gave them some momentum. That was disappointing and then to come out on the first drive of the second half and not do anything with it. I was disappointed in the coverage game but we did enough to get it done."

Kilgore opened up the scoring in the second half as Canton sophomore quarterback Chandler Eiland scored from six-yards out. Kenworthy booted the PAT good with 6:22 remaining for the 21-19 deficit.

The Cardinals scored 17 unanswered points as backup Shelton Eppler connected with Guyton for his second touchdown of the game. The 45-yard strike gave the Cardinals a 28-19 lead with 4:52 remaining.

The long ball connection continued as Tony Mullins streaked past a Kilgore defender for a 75-yard touchdown off the hand of Eppler with nine seconds remaining in the third. Novikoff booted the PAT good for the 35-19 lead.

In the fourth quarter, Novikoff led off the scoring with a 36-yard field goal to give the Cardinals a 38-19 lead with 12:37 remaining.

Kilgore's Zecharius Nash-Kelly took the ensuing kickoff 57-yards to cut the deficit to 38-26.

Eppler then connected on a 54-yard completion to Guyton with 10:36 remaining to make the score 45-26.

The Rangers were not done as Eiland drove the Rangers down the field and scored on a four-yard run with 5:41 remaining for the 45-33 deficit.

Following an interception by Devante Thomas with 2:54 remaining, the Cardinals put together a three-play, 61-yard drive to put the game out of reach. Berryman cashed in on a 13-yard run with 1:14 remaining for the 52-33 lead.

The final touchdown of the game came with 59 seconds remaining as Kilgore's Cameron Fisher scored on a 61-yard pass from Eiland for the 52-40 final.

(Story courtesy of Joe Elerson/Athens Review)