It’s homecoming week for the Blinn College football team, and the Buccaneers are looking to cap the festivities with a crucial Southwest Junior College Football Conference win over Tyler Junior College.
The two teams will battle it out at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Cub Stadium in Brenham, with both programs needing a victory for different reasons.
In the eight-team conference, four squads – including Blinn – are in the middle of the pack with a 1-2 mark. The Buccaneers (2-2 overall) will give their conference playoff chances a boost with a victory over the Apaches.
Tyler (3-2 overall) is one of two undefeated teams in the SWJCFC with a 3-0 showing, and needs to sidestep a setback to avoid falling into the conference’s muddled middle. Kilgore College is currently in second place at 2-1.
Only four teams will qualify for the SWJCFC playoffs, and following Saturday’s action, only two weeks of regular-season action remain.
“Half the conference is in a logjam right now, so we have a great opportunity to separate ourselves from the pack and put ourselves in position to get to the postseason,” Bucs head coach said. “We treat every week as its own challenge, but at the same time we know these next three weeks starting Saturday will go a long way in determining our season.”
Blinn will be eager to bounce back from a tough 13-10 conference road loss at the hands of Trinity Valley Community College in week six, and hopes a hard look at film from that contest can right the ship.
While the Bucs put forth another stout defensive effort in the defeat, their offense was unable to find much traction due to poor starting field position, turnovers, and numerous false start and holding penalties.
“We kept shooting ourselves in the foot with little mistakes,” freshman running back Martavious Boswell said. “We would have a good kickoff return to set up good field position, or we’d make a play for a big gain, and then we’d push ourselves back with penalties. We still believe in this offense and know what we’re capable of, we just have to keep from hurting ourselves and stopping our momentum.”
Following a 0-2 start to the year, Tyler now sports a winning record this season due in large part to some strong defensive play of its own.
After giving up 55 combined points in their two defeats, the Apaches have rebounded to allow just seven, 13, and 10 points in wins over Trinity Valley, Northeastern Oklahoma AM College, and New Mexico Military Institute, respectively.
“We’re going to try to be as 50-50, run-pass as possible against their defense, but we know they are going to try to take some things away from us and we have to be able to adjust to it,” Mahon said. “Tyler’s defense is going to decide which way we want to attack, and we have to be prepared for that and be ready to go out and execute.”
Tyler’s offense has done enough to back its strong defense, but is still averaging just 17 points per game. The Apaches operate through a run-pass option, largely similar to what the Bucs run themselves, and that familiarity with the system has Blinn believing it is prepared to stop Tyler in its tracks.
“We’ve been playing very well with a lot of confidence, but we still believe there are little mistakes we can clean up to be better,” said sophomore defensive back Javon Bejarano. “Tyler brings speed in its RPO with a fast wide receiver, a good running back, and a quarterback who gets the ball in the air quickly, but we defend a lot of that from our own offense every day in practice. It’s going to come down to putting pressure on their QB, limiting their big plays, and forcing turnovers.”
Fans unable to attend the game in person can follow the action live by clicking the video link available at www.buccaneersports.com/sports/football/schedule/2024.
