CISCO, Texas — Working hard to earn their first victory of the season, the Cisco College Wranglers entertain the Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Golden Norsemen at 5 p.m. Saturday as part of homecoming festivities at Chesley Field.
Since creation of the series in 1975 between the two programs, the Golden Norsemen own a 27-7 record against the Wranglers. Cisco's last victory against NEO was a hard-fought 27-26 win in 2011 at Red Robertson Field.
Last season the Golden Norsemen rallied from a 13-6 deficit in the final five minutes of the game to earn a 23-20 victory in Miami.
Sophomore placekicker Gabriel Rui generated all of NEO's first half points with a 37-yard field goal with 13:52 left in the second quarter.
After neither team failed to cross the goal line during the third quarter, Rui kicked a 45-yard field goal just 0:08 seconds into the final quarter for a precarious 6-0 NEO lead.
During a five-minute period of the fourth quarter, Cisco wide receiver Marcus Daggs hauled in touchdown passes of 85 and 1-yards to give the Wranglers a 13-6 margin.
Golden Norse quarterback Mack Waldman responded just 0:07 seconds later after Daggs second TD with a 58-yard touchdown bomb to wide out Shannon Smith to create a 13-13 tie.
With 2:33 left in the game, Waldman found wide out Mike'Quan Dean open for a 58-yard TD pass play as NEO built a short-lived 20-13 margin.
Daggs made his presence felt with time running out by catching a 5-yard TD pass from Richard Lagow as the Wranglers tied the score with only 0:25 seconds remaining.
Passes of 14-yard to Stephan Robinson and 10-yards to Smith enabled the Golden Norsemen to move to the Cisco 40-yard line with time running down. Rui entered the game and booted the 47-yard winning field goal with 0:07 left on the clock.
NEO's defensive unit limited Cisco to 313 yards (79 rushing and 234 yards passing) in total offense.
Although the Wranglers feature a balanced offense (158.8 yards rushing and 229.8 yards passing), their defense has struggled. Though five games the Wranglers are surrendering 445.2 total yards per game (193 yards rushing and 252.5 passing) along with 55 points per game.
Freshman Braden Nolen (6-2, 182 from Mansfield, Texas) and sophomore transfer Ronald Monroe (6-3, 200 from Houston, Texas) have been alternating at quarterback.
Nolen has completed 52 of 97 passes for 604 yards and four touchdowns with five interceptions.
Monroe, who played as a freshman at Vanderbilt University, has completed 25 of 57 passes for 330 yards and two TDs with two interceptions in four games.
Bolstering the Wranglers ground game are freshman Darrian Hammonds and sophomore Jon Coss.
Hammonds (6-0, 225 from Arlington, Texas) leads Cisco with 324 yards on 53 carries for an average of 6.1 yards per touch.
Coss (5-9, 215 from Houston, Texas) has gained 168 yards on 42 carries with two touchdowns.
While 13 players have carried the ball, the Wranglers have lost nine of 13 total fumbles.
Justin Vaughn, Duntayviun Gross and Dee Wilson comprise the Wranglers receiving corps.
Vaughn (5-10, 190 from Houston, Texas) is a redshirt sophomore and leads the Wranglers with 27 receptions for 359 yards and two TDs.
Gross (5-9, 175 from Tyler, Texas) is a freshman with 14 catches for 102 yards.
Dee (D'Amonte) Wilson (5-11, 185 from Ennis, Texas) is also a freshman with eight receptions for 120 yards and one touchdown.
Six sophomores return to anchor the Wranglers front seven on defense.
Veteran linebacker Solomon Hunter (6-3, 230 from San Antonio, Texas) leads the defensive unit after playing one season at Louisiana Tech. He has 14 unassisted tackles with 32 assists while recovering two fumbles.
Sophomore cornerback Collin Turner (5-11, 190 from Arlington, Texas) has recorded 17 solo tackles, 28 assists and five pass deflections.
Redshirt sophomore linebacker Elijah Timarky (6-1, 220 from Killeen, Texas) joined the Wranglers after one year at Harding University. He has made 16 solo tackles and 28 assists with four tackles behind the line of scrimmage for minus-21 yards.
The Wranglers defense have recorded 26 quarterback sacks for minus-178 yards and 56 tackles behind the line of scrimmage for minus-136 yards.