BRENHAM — BRENHAM, Texas — Talk about passing the Bucs.

That’s right, Bucs.

The Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals ran past the Blinn Buccaneers Saturday afternoon, threw past the Bucs, scored past them, and generally left the defending national champions on the side of the road as they raced to a 59-38 SWJCFC semifinal playoff win.

The game wasn’t as close as the 21-point spread.

Head coach Brad Smiley and the Cardinals (6-4) will now turn their attention to Navarro College (9-1) and next week’s conference championship game. Navarro beat Kilgore, 38-22, in the other semifinal Saturday.

The championship game is set for 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14.

The Cardinals beat Blinn Saturday with a prolific offense that protected the ball throughout the game. TVCC committed just one turnover and that came late in the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach.

The Cardinals scored first and built a 24-14 lead by halftime.

Each time Blinn tried to make a run, the Cardinals answered back. The two teams traded touchdowns on six consecutive possessions in the second half before TVCC’s Clifford Stokes broke the cycle by picking off Blinn quarterback Justin Tuggle and scootIng down the sideline 60 yards for a score. Tuggle had two interceptions for the game.

Not unexpectedly, the conference’s top running back, Josh Johnson, drew most of the Bucs’ attention on defense.

Quarterback Si’Darius Blackshire made Blinn pay for that by hitting seven different receivers for 254 yards and three touchdowns. The second-year signal caller was unflappable, seemingly making the right decision on every play.

Touchdowns were caught by Derel Walker (2 yards), Aron Franklin (29 yards), and Adam Watson (23 yards).

As the Bucs backed up to defend the Cards passing attack, Johnson started finding room. Johnson wound up with 253 yards on 24 carries and a 41-yard touchdown.

Also scoring rushing touchdowns for TVCC were Chris Franklin (34 yards), Jeremiah Jackson (2 yards), and Blackshire (6 yards).

The Cardinal offense was virtually unstoppable, racking up 632 yards of total offense.

Defensively the Cards were able to hold the Bucs at bay, forcing  six punts and four turnovers. In addition to Stokes’ interceptions, Chris Porter and Kennedy Jones recovered fumbles for the Cardinals.

The conference’s second leading running back, Marion Grice, gained 158 yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns for Blinn, but most of those yards came in the second half with the TVCC defense protecting a big lead and guarding against giving up a long pass play.

The only phase of the game where the Cardinals struggled was kickoff coverage, and TVCC allowed Philander Moore to return one kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. Special teams didn’t hurt the Cards this week, however.

CARDINALS 59, BUCCANEERS 38

    TVCC    BC

First Downs    30    21    

Rushing Yards    378    215    

Passing Yards    254    158    

Total Yards    632    373    

Passes Att.    28    37    

Passes Comp.    16    16    

Interceptions    0    2    

Fumbles/Lost    1/1    4/2    

Penalties    9/65    12/120    

Punts    5/39.5    6/37.5    

Score By Quarters

TVCC    7    17    21    14    — 59    

Blinn    7    7    10    14    — 38

Scoring Summary

TVCC — Si'Darius Blackshire 2 pass to Derel Walker (Jaimie Salazar kick)

BLINN — Justin Tuggle 8 pass to Isaiah Battle (Tyler Vincent kick)

TVCC — Blackshire 29 pass to Aron Franklin (Salazar kick)

TVCC — Salazar 30 field goal

BLINN — Philander Moore 97 kickoff return (Vincent kick)

TVCC — Blackshire 23 pass to Adam Watson (Salazar kick)

TVCC — Chris Franklin 34 run (Salazar kick)

BLINN — Vincent 39 field goal

TVCC — Jeremiah Williams 2 run (Salazar kick)

BLINN — Marion Grice 23 run (Vincent kick)

TVCC — Blackshire 6 run (Salazar kick)

TVCC — Tuggle 4 run (Vincent kick)

TVCC — Clifford Stokes 60 interception return (Salazar kick)

TVCC — Josh Johnson 41 run (Salazar kick)

BLINN — Grice 11 run (Vincent kick)