Apaches Pound Rochester, 55-3

Texas junior college football versus Minnesota's brand.

No contest.

Seventh-ranked Tyler Junior College scored on offense, defense and special teams and motored to a 55-3 victory over Rochester Community and Technical College in the third annual Heart of Texas Bowl on a cold Saturday at Bulldawg Stadium.

The Apaches (10-2) completed their first 10-win season since 1969. Rochester, which does not offer scholarships, ended its seventh straight bowl season with a 9-3 record.

TJC met little resistance rushing or passing. Tailback Vincent Brown, who had already eclipsed 1,000 yards for the season, rushed for 124 yards and one touchdown on 20 carries against Rochester.

Quarterback Tony Eckert, who went over 2,000 yards passing in the previous game, completed 14 of 24 for 259 yards and four touchdowns.

Ashlan Davis, needing 90 yards to reach 1,000 receiving, had three catches for 50 yards and one TD. Davis also scored on a 53-yard punt return for the final TD of the game.

Robert Spells had two catches for 87 yards, both for touchdowns. All four TJC offensive leaders are sophomores.

"I was really tickled with our offense, and Tony had a lot of poise back there," said a drenched and freezing Dale Carr, TJC's head coach who received a celebratory water dousing. "I'm happy all the way around."

The trip back to Central Texas was a homecoming of sorts for Temple native Dewayne Brandon. The TJC sophomore strong safety led the defense with eight tackles and added a 32-yard fumble return for a score.

"I had family, fans and friends here - it's a great thing - and then to come out and play good on top of that...," said Brandon, a former Temple High School all-state defensive back. "I can't breathe right now it feels so good. It's lovely to be back down here."

The Apaches allowed only 197 total yards and recorded four interceptions, two each by Tim Williams and Theo Baines.

The TJC offense, with a huge speed advantage, needed only 25 plays to produce a 31-3 lead at halftime.

The Apaches took advantage of a short field much of the time, thanks to three blocked punts and two interceptions. They started three first-half touchdown drives in Rochester territory, and a fourth at midfield.

Rochester actually led 3-0 deep into the first quarter after the Yellowjackets capped an 11-play, 57-yard opening series with Pat Neumuth's 38-yard field goal.

Rochester starting quarterback Daniel Roberts surprised the Apaches with a 37-yard completion on the game's opening play, and he also passed on the next two downs. Chad Strike, who entered the day with 1,387 yards rushing, had 20 yards on his first four carries before getting stuffed in the backfield twice by defensive tackle Adrian Haywood.

Strike completed the game with 65 yards on 21 carries.

"In the three games we had watched them, they were predominately run," Carr said. "They'd throw one out of eight times, maybe. So it really surprised us that they came out (and passed on the first three plays).

"Probably the strength of our defense all year has been our secondary and it's allowed us to do a lot of things with our front to help stop the running game. Most teams in our league, even the teams that throw it well, don't like to throw deep and intermediate routes on us."

TJC's first possession resulted in a fumble, giving Rochester the ball at the Apaches' 48. Strike then picked up 10 yards on two runs, but Roberts floated a pass deep downfield two plays later and was picked off by Williams, who returned it to midfield. The Rochester quarterback was hit on the play and sidelined with an injury the rest of the game.

The Apaches gained the upper hand on a six-play drive when Spells broke into the open to haul in a 36-yard TD pass from Eckert. Chad Smith kicked the first of seven extra points to make it 7-3 with 1:59 left in the first quarter. Smith also kicked a pair of field goals in the game.

The first TD started TJC's dominance.

The Apaches partially blocked a Rochester punt on the next series to gain possession at the Yellowjackets' 37. On second down, Eckert faked a handoff before completing a pass to fullback/tight end Anthony Kessler, who turned upfield and scored from 31 yards out.

Baines intercepted a tipped pass on the next series to set up Brown's 24-yard TD run for a 21-3 lead with 12:09 left in the second quarter.

Comfortably ahead at the break, the Apaches took the second-half kickoff and kept the ball for 11 plays and seven minutes to set up Smith's second field goal for a 34-3 lead.

Smoke Signals: Private First Class Michelle Loftus of Dover, Minn., participated in the coin toss before the game. Deployed to Iraq on March 19 as a combat medic, she was injured on July 23 by a landmine and was returned to the United States. She is assigned to the 581st Area Support Medical Company at Fort Hood. ... TJC defensive end Yamil Lebron is from nearby Killeen Ellison High School. Deep snapper Michael Sustaita is from Troy High School just outside of Temple.

Heart of Texas Bowl

Tyler 55, Rochester 3

At Bulldawg Stadium, Copperas Cove

Rochester 3 0 0 0 - 3

Tyler 7 24 10 14 - 55

First Quarter

RCTC-FG Pat Neumuth 38, 8:12

TJC-Robert Spells 36 pass from Tony Eckert (Chad Smith kick), 1:59

Second Quarter

TJC-Anthony Kessler 31 pass from Eckert (Smith kick), 14:50

TJC-Vincent Brown 24 run (Smith kick), 12:09

TJC-Ashlan Davis 33 pass from Eckert (Smith kick), 7:15

TJC-FG Smith 38, 4:04

Third Quarter

TJC-FG Smith 24, 8:07

TJC-Spells 51 pass from Eckert (Smith kick), :36

Fourth Quarter

TJC-Dewayne Brandon 32 fumble return (Smith kick), 5:29

TJC-Ashlan Davis 53 punt return (Smith kick), 4:14

EST. ATT.-1,500.

RCTC TJC

First downs 12 16

Rushes-Yards 35-85 31-178

Passing yards 112 259

Comp-Att-Int 14-34-4 14-24-2

Punts-Avg. 6-33.7 1-39.0

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 1-1

Penalties-Yards 7-43 12-130

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Rochester, Chad Strike 21-65, Daniel Roberts 2-10, Ivan Rosario 2-8, Andrew Williams 2-4, Brent Hovis 1-2, Devery Evans 2-(minus 1), Jason Conner 1-(minus 1), Brenden Huewe 4-(minus 2). Tyler, Vincent Brown 20-124, Lepeacus Celestine 7-44, Craig Harris 1-7, Ashlan Davis 1-4, James Caruthers 1-1, Tony Eckert 1-(minus 2).

PASSING-Rochester, Huewe 12-29-3-72, Roberts 2-5-1. Tyler, Eckert 14-24-2-259.

RECEIVING-Rochester, Trevor White 4-38, Adrian Maddox 4-25, Strike 3-17, Barry Quickstad 1-37, Darnell Pope 1-5, Rosario 1-(minus 10). Tyler, Anthony Kessler 4-44, Davis 3-50, Robert Spells 2-87, Ronnie Miller 2-53, Caruthers 2-23, Maurice Smith 1-2.