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Michael V. Hannigan

The Cardinals walked into their open week holding the No. 2 seed. They walked out holding a bus ticket to Miami, Okla.

A forfeiture ruling against Navarro College in the final week of the season changed the Southwest Junior College Football Conference standings and moved TVCC into the No. 3 spot. That set up a road semifinal against Northeastern Oklahoma A&M on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Red Robertson Field.

The change sends the Cardinals up against a recent opponent.

TVCC saw NEO two weeks ago at Bruce Field in a 38-31 loss shaped by early mistakes and a slow start. The Cardinals gave up 31 points in the first half before settling in after halftime.

“We’re playing a team we’ve already played with NEO and they’re on a hot streak right now,” Head Coach Sherard Poteete said. “They’ve won, you know, I think three in a row.”

Coach Poteete said the Cardinals used the open week to reset and refocus.

“They’ve been ready to roll since we had our open week,” he said. “We practiced a few days last week, gave them a couple days off. It’s been a long season.”

“When they showed back up here on campus,” Coach Poteete said, “they were locked in and ready to roll.”

The plan is simple heading into Saturday.

“We just have to go play now,” he said.

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