A valiant effort and a late-game rally weren’t enough for the Blinn College football team Saturday, as the Buccaneers fell to No. 8 Trinity Valley Community College 37-24 at Cub Stadium in Brenham, Texas.
Blinn is now 2-4 overall and 0-4 in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference.
The Buccaneers scored first on a first-quarter field goal, and at one point led 10-7, but the Cardinals rallied for a 21-10 halftime advantage. Blinn continued to fight and drew within six points in the fourth quarter, but Trinity Valley added a touchdown in the final minutes to close out the game.
Four Blinn turnovers and several penalties also hindered its rally.
(Pictured: Blinn’s Caden Holt drags down Trinity Valley quarterback Darion Peace, 8, during a game Oct. 7, 2023)
“The kids played extremely hard and I’m proud of the way they responded to adversity tonight,” Buccaneers head coach Ryan Mahon said. “They fought for 60 minutes, and there’s not a negative thing I can say about them. Of course, you want some plays back, but I’m proud of the way our guys stuck to it all night.”
Blinn opened the scoring on the first offensive drive of the game on a 33-yard field goal from freshman Max Nowack at the 10:21 mark of the first quarter.
Trinity Valley answered with a long touchdown pass, but Blinn countered with an 8-yard scoring run from freshman quarterback with just 17 seconds remaining in the opening period.
The Cardinals pulled ahead 21-10 on another touchdown pass and a 1-yard TD run.
After Trinity Valley made it 28-10 in the third quarter, Johnson started a Blinn rally with a touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Ethan Wyatt. The point-after touchdown attempt was good, and the Bucs were within 28-17 with 3:39 to go in the third.
Following a Blinn safety which gave the Cardinals a 30-17 edge, the Bucs’ offense got going again in the fourth quarter. A long scoring drive was capped by a 10-yard burst over the goal line by freshman running back Antonio Martin with 7:31 left to play.
Needing a defensive stop to give its offense a shot at a tie or a lead, Blinn was unable to contain the Trinity Valley offense in the final minutes as the visitors added an insurance score with 4:55 to go.
Despite the setback, Blinn’s defense produced a respectable outing, forcing a handful of three-and-outs and snagging its 10th interception of the year on a takeaway from sophomore defensive back Mikado Hinson Jr.
“The kids wouldn’t take no for an answer and battled until the end,” Mahon added. “We shot ourselves in the foot at times, but we turned the page and kept moving and tonight was a step in the right direction.”
Next up for the Bucs is a conference road trip to sixth-ranked Tyler Junior College scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14, in Tyler, Texas.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 44 NJCAA national championships since 1987.?
