BRENHAM, Texas — Although the No. 11 Blinn College football team outscored Tyler Junior College by 17 points in the second half, the Apaches' strong performance in the first half led them to a 27-24 victory to open the conference season on Saturday night at Cub Stadium.

Brock Landis led Blinn's offense, completing 10-of-13 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns. Chance Amie led the Buccaneers in rushing with 95 yards on seven attempts, while D'Anthony Simms-Coleman scored Blinn's only rushing touchdown. He finished the game with 66 yards on nine carries. Danny Gray led Blinn's receivers with 101 yards on nine catches for one touchdown, while Xavier Hutchinson recorded 33 yards on two catches for one touchdown. In addition, Alec Schroeder kicked one field goal.

After falling behind 20-0 in the first half, Blinn outscored Tyler 24-7 in the second half, but fell just short of a rally.

Blinn landed on the board for the first time with 11:47 showing in the third quarter when Landis linked up with Gray for a three-yard pass.

Tyler answered back with its final touchdown on a 26-yard touchdown pass with 2:55 left in the third quarter to pull ahead 27-7.

Blinn tacked on its final 17 points in the fourth quarter to narrow in on Tyler 27-24. Schroeder started things off with an 18-yard field goal with 14:04 left, Simms-Coleman rushed in a 27-yard touchdown with 12:50 on the clock, and Landis sent a 17-yard touchdown pass to Hutchinson with 2:56 remaining. However, the Buccaneers never got another possession as they fell to Tyler.

Earlier in the game, Tyler scored its first touchdown on a 38-yard run with 1:09 on the clock in the first quarter. Darius VanDyke intercepted the two-point conversion to hold Tyler to 6-0.

The Apaches tacked on 14 more points in the second quarter, scoring on a 26-yard passing touchdown with 14:05 left and a 13-yard rushing touchdown with 8:49 remaining.

Next, Blinn will travel to Navarro College to take on the Bulldogs in a conference game on Saturday, Sept. 7, at 7 p.m.