BRENHAM — Playing Blinn in the postseason brings out the best in Tyler Junior College. The opposite is true for the regular season, where Blinn has thumped the Apaches by an average score of 49-14 since 2006.
On the positive side, TJC has fared well against Blinn in their last two playoff encounters — beating the Buccaneers in 2004 and coming close in a 21-15 setback two years ago against Cam Newton.
Returning to the Southwest Junior College Football Conference semifinals for the second time under coach Danny Palmer, the Apaches (6-3) are excited to get another shot at No. 1 Blinn (9-0) after losing to the Bucs 55-31 on Oct. 8 in Bryan.
“It was ugly. I didn’t enjoy watching the film,” said Palmer, in his fifth year at the helm. “I remember how worried I was going to NEO (the next week). We were beat up.”
This time, TJC’s road game against Blinn will be played at Cub Stadium in Brenham — off the Blinn campus. The kickoff is 7 p.m. Saturday.
The Apaches won their season-high third straight game last weekend with a come-from-behind 42-35 victory over Kilgore to put TJC in the playoffs. Blinn is working on a perfect season, but the last three games have been tight. The Bucs kicked a 19-yard field goal as time expired to win at Cisco, 39-37, despite four turnovers. Before that, they held off Trinity Valley at home (40-37) and then rallied for a 52-45 win at Kilgore.
The Tyler game was a different matter. Blinn quarterback Eric Mathews accounted for 444 total yards and six touchdowns in the 24-point blowout of the Apaches. The Bucs never trailed and Mathews averaged 26 yards per completion, throwing touchdowns of 38, 54, 70 and 25 yards.
The Apaches had success running the ball against Blinn and had 501 total yards, but the Apaches trailed 28-10 at halftime and quickly fell behind 34-10 in the third quarter.
“They’ve just been able to get big plays on us,” Palmer said. “In ’09, I thought we were as close to equal to them except for Cam Newton made a big difference. The rest of the time, we haven’t been able to stop them in crucial times. We get in a bind early against them. We give up a big play early.”
Palmer will start Randy Price at quarterback, after the freshman from Waco University sparked the second-half comeback against Kilgore. Price rushed for 90 yards and a touchdown, and threw for 179 and two more scores in the win.
Price started against Blinn the first time but played only the first two series. Tyrik Rollison, who has rotated with Price most of the year, came in to complete 15 of 35 for 181 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in the loss.
SMOKE SIGNALS: Palmer did not mention any significant injuries on his team, which is more than the coach can say about himself. Palmer was run over on the sideline last week during a play and suffered a mild concussion and broken rib. … Palmer allowed the players to shave his head this week since they made the playoffs. … Cub Stadium is located at 1600 East Tom Green St. between Brenham Middle School, Brenham Junior High and Niebuhr Street. Each side seats 3,800. The visitors sit on the east side and park on the south end of the stadium, according to the Brenham ISD website. The field is an AstroTurf playing surface, new in 2010. … In the other conference semifinal playoff, No. 8 Trinity Valley (8-1) entertains No. 11 Navarro (7-2) at 3 p.m. today at Bruce Field in Athens.
