MIAMI — Erasing a 19-point halftime deficit, the Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Golden Norsemen earned a come-from-behind 30-29 victory Saturday over No. 1 ranked Trinity Valley Community College at Red Robertson Field.
Playing at home for the first time, the Golden Norse are 1-1 on the season and 1-1 in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference.
Veteran head coach Brad Smiley's Cardinals are 2-1 on the year and 1-1 in the conference.
NEO returns to the road with a 7 p.m. SWJCFC matchup next Saturday against Tyler Junior College. The homecoming contest will be played on Earl Campbell Field at Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium.  
Tyler is 1-0 on the season after severe weather wiped out their season opener Aug. 27 against Kilgore (Texas) College. The Apaches shutout Texas A&T on Sept. 1 in Tyler before experiencing an open date last weekend.
Perhaps the biggest play called by NEO first year head coach Clay Patterson, wasn't made on the field.
With his team trailing 19-0 at halftime, Patterson spoke to both his defense and offense in separate meetings at intermission.
"What I told them (the defense) at halftime was to basically calm down," Patterson said. "I also said that they just needed to 'stay the course' and let us get things going on offense.
"As offensive coordinator we knew that they had our back," Patterson said. "If they just kept us in the game, our offense would start clicking."
Trinity Valley took the opening kickoff and marched 67 yards in eight plays.
Sophomore Caden Novikoff concluded the drive with a 21-yard field goal at the 12:14 juncture of the first quarter.
Freshman cornerback Patrick Peek scooped up a fumble by NEO tailback Darwin Thompson and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown with 5:04 left in the first quarter. Novikoff's PAT created a 10-0 Cardinals lead.
Novikoff hit a 27-yard field goal with 2:10 remaining in the opening quarter for a 13-0 Cards margin. The field goal concluded an 87-yard, eight-play drive for Trinity Valley.
Two minutes into the second quarter, the Cardinals received a 17-yard TD run by sophomore tailback Cedric Battle after Trinity Valley covered 68 yards in seven plays. Novikoff missed the point-after as the Cards maintained a 19-0 margin at intermission.
"After dressing the defense, I told our offense to control our emotions," Patterson said. "Offense is more a surreal side of the game and I thought we were a little too amped up before the game and we really made little mental mistakes that hurt us in the first half.
Because of some dropped passes and overthrown balls by starting quarterback Nicholas Johns, Patterson decided to let Cordale Grundy play in the second quarter.
"I also told the offense to do what we coached them to do and we're going to get it rolling," Patterson said. "We just had too many dropped passes, running backs going the wrong way, tight ends going the wrong way and both quarterbacks not doing their job."
Johns, a redshirt freshman from Leesburg, Virginia, returned to the controls of the Golden Norse offense the entire second half and breathed life into NEO's offense.
"Nick's still new to the spread offense, so when he struggles I like for Cordale to come in," Patterson said. "That allows Nick an opportunity to observe from the sideline what the defense is doing and helps him get back in the flow of the game.
"Cordale came in and did a good job," Patterson said. "But I think Nick began to understand near the end of the half and he came in and showed what he is capable of the last two quarters." 
NEO marched 67 yards in nine plays after taking the second half kickoff.
Redshirt sophomore tailback Larry Hill scored on a 6-yard run up the middle as the Norse trailed 19-6 with 10:15 left in the third quarter. The two-point conversion pass by Grundy failed.
Novikoff booted his third field goal of 23 yards as the Cardinals held a 22-6 cushion with 6:26 left in the third quarter.
Freshman wide receiver Skye Lowe caught a 20-yard touchdown pass off a crossing route from Johns after NEO covered 70 yards in six plays.
Broken Arrow's Riley Hathorn kicked the extra point at the 4:17 mark as NEO trailed by a 22-13 deficit.
With just 0:50 seconds left in the third quarter, the Cards covered 56 yards in five plays before veteran running back Le'Vonte Owens scored on a 5-yard run up the middle. Novikoff's extra point gave the Cards a 29-13 lead heading into the final quarter.
Johns concluded a 65-yard, four-play drive with 10:41 left in the game on a 1-yard TD plunge.  The PAT by Hathorn produced a 29-20 deficit.
During the scoring drive, Johns connected with redshirt sophomore running back Larry Hill for a 38-yard pass play to move the Golden Norsemen into striking distance.
Four minutes later, Hathorn booted a 21-yard field goal to reduce the deficit to a 29-23 score.
Pinned back at their own 9-yard line with less than three minutes showing on the clock, Johns initiated a seven-play, 91-yard drive to put NEO ahead.
Hill, from Cedar Hill, Texas, took the handoff and navigated 11 yards through the middle for the tying touchdown. Hathorn kicked the ball through the uprights with 1:28 remaining in the game.
NEO's defensive unit forced Trinity Valley to turn the ball over on downs as the clock wound down.
Thompson, from Jenks, led the Golden Norse ground game with 146 yards on 17 carries. Johns contributed 59 yards on six carries and one TD as the NEO ground game amassed 265 yards on 40 carries with three touchdowns.
Johns completed 27 of 48 passes for 309 yards and one TD while Grundy hit 2 of 7 passes for 12 yards.
Freshman wide out Brandon Prather led the NEO receiving corps with eight catches for 63 yards while redshirt freshman Kobe Bryer made six receptions for 61 yards. Veteran tight end Mike'Quan Deane caught two passes for 60 yards.
"With our receivers, we had some dropped balls (8 total) that we really shouldn't have," Patterson said. "They were just easy catches that refers to a lack of mental focus.
"They showed us signs of what we can do, we need to continue to grow up," Patterson said. "After all, we ran 95 total plays and we've got some really good running backs to go with a very solid offensive line that carried us the entire game."
Redshirt freshman Michael Curtis rushed for 70 yards on 10 carries while sophomore running back Cedric Battle added 60 yards on 11 carries with one TD.
The Cardinals generated 232 yards on 44 carries on the ground.
Curtis completed 14 of 29 passes for 166 yards while Rayjohn Austin-Ramsey completed 8 of 17 passes for 71 yards.
"They came out and didn't throw very much in the first half, so that eliminated our pass rush on defense," Patterson said. "Once we got going and got into the flow of the game defensively, we felt like throughout the course of the game our conditioning would pay of and we could wear them out on both sides of the ball and I think we did."
Trinity Valley;13;6;10;0 — 29
Northeastern A&M;0;0;13;17 — 30
Scoring summary
First quarter
TVCC — 21 FG Novikoff, 12:17
TVCC — Peek 47 fumble return (Novikoff kick), 5:04
TVCC — 25 FG Novikoff, 2:10
 Second quarter
TVCC — Battle 17 run (Kick failed), 13:00
Third quarter
NEO — Lowe 6 run (Pass failed), 10:15
TVCC — 23 FG Novikoff, 6:26
NEO — Lowe 20 pass from Johns (Hathorn kick), 4:17
TVCC — Owens 5 run (Novikoff kick), 0:50
Fourth quarter
NEO — Johns 1 run (Hathorn kick), 10:41
NEO — 21 FG Hathorn, 6:29
NEO — Hill 11 run (Hathorn kick), 1:28
Team statistics
TVCC;NEO
First downs;25;28
Rushes-yards;44-232;40-265
Passing yards;237;321
Return yards;47;0
Passes-com-att-int;22-46-0;29-55-0
Punts-avg.;6-37;5-30
Fumbles-lost;0-0;2-1
Penalties-yards;5-60;7-40
Individual statistics
RUSHING: TVCC, Curtis 10-70, Battle 11-60, Berryman 9-52, Owens 9-36, Austin-Ramsey 2-12, Banks 1-2, Williams 1-0, Dowell 1-0; NEO, Thompson 17-146, Johns 6-59, Hill 9-43, Lang 5-21, Grundy 3-(-4).
PASSING: TVCC, Curtis 14-29-0-166, Austin-Ramsey 8-17-0-71; NEO, Johns 27-48-0-309, Grundy 2-7-0-12.
RECEIVING: TVCC, Dowell 10-63, Battle 4-53, Thomas 2-44, Turner 2-27, Mullins 2-25,  Justic 2-25; NEO, Prather 8-63, Bryer 6-61, Deane 2-60, Lowe 3-45, Nevel 5-31, Ross 1-28, Burris 2-27, Owens 2-6.