Dixie State began its Western Athletic Conference era on a sour note as the Trailblazers came out on the wrong end of a 41-20 home decision vs. Tarleton State on Saturday night at Greater Zion Stadium.

DSU (0-6/0-1 WAC) began the game by doing something it had only done one other time this season - score points on its opening possession. The Trailblazers took the opening kickoff and methodically marched down the field, covering 46 yards over their first six offensive plays.
 
Senior running back Drew Kannely-Robles accounted for 22 of those yards on the first four attempts, including an 11-yard scamper on his opening carry. Sophomore Kenyon Oblad then connected with Rickie Johnson on a 20-yard pass play that moved the ball to the Tarleton 33.
 
Kannely-Robles picked up seven more yards, but an Oblad incompletion on third down stalled the drive at the Tarleton 26. Connor Brooksby would come on and drill a 43-yard field goal to give the Blazers their first lead of the season at 3-0 just 3:20 into the game.
 
That lead would be short-lived however as the Texans (3-3/1-1 WAC) answered with a pair of touchdowns on their first two possessions to vault to a 14-3 advantage. Tarleton answered the DSU field goal with a quick four-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with a Steven Duncan to J.F. Thomas 30-yard strike.
 
Then after a DSU three-and-out, Duncan found Daniel Wright for a 32-yard pitch-and-catch that capped a nine-play, 80-yard drive.
 
Dixie State clapped back on its ensuing possession with a Kannely-Robles 7-yard sweep around the left side and into the end zone for his first touchdown of the season, which cut the deficit to 14-10 with just under two minutes to play in the period.

The senior back collected 32 more yards on that six-play scoring drive that covered 65 yards, highlighted by a 21-yard rush that got the Blazers in the red zone after a big Tarleton pass interference penalty on third down extended the DSU drive.
 
Tarleton wrestled the momentum away with another Duncan touchdown toss on its next possession, then added an Adrian Guzman 37-yd field goal to extend to a 24-10 cushion. Then following a Brooksby 32-yd field goal, the Texans punched one final touchdown in with 16 seconds left in the first half on a Ryheem Skinner 3-yard dive that gave Tarleton a commanding 31-13 halftime edge.
 
After both sides battled through a scoreless third quarter, Tarleton pushed its lead to 21 points at 34-13 thanks to Guzman's third field goal of the game, and his second 37-yarder of the night.
 
Dixie State trimmed the Texan lead to 14 points at 34-20 midway through the fourth on a hard-fought 2-yard run from Kannely-Robles, his second TD of the night that finished a 73-yard drive over seven plays.  
 
However that would be as close as the Blazers would get as Tarleton came up with a big turnover when Chris Radford strip-sacked reserve quarterback Kobe Tracy at the DSU 15 yard line with 3:17 to play. The Texans converted that short-field miscue into points with a Jayy McDonald touchdown run to provide the final margin.
 
After failing to reach the century mark on the ground over its first five games, Dixie State racked up a season-high 170 yards rushing. Kannely-Robles enjoyed his finest outing in his two-plus seasons as a Trailblazer as he finished with a career-high 81 yards on 20 carries.

Meanwhile, the senior's two rushing touchdowns also tied a career-high, with his first instance coming nearly two years to the day in a road win at Western Colorado (28-20; 10/19/19). In addition, Kannely-Robles finished with a career-best 120 all-purpose yards after he hauled in a co-team high six passes for 39 yards.
 
Freshman back Quali Conley also got into the act on the ground as he tallied a season-high 66 yards on seven carries, including a 39-yard, second quarter scamper. Oblad finished the night with 108 yards on 15-of-30 passing, while Tracy completed 11-of-15 of his attempts in the fourth quarter for 111 yards.
 
In all, Dixie State wound up with 389 yards of total offense, which was season-high at home and the second-best total to this point of the season.
 
Meanwhile, Tarleton put up 486 yards, with 299 of those yards coming off the arm Duncan, who went 21-of-30 passing to go with those three touchdown throws. McDonald finished with 105 yards on 14 carries, and Thomas caught six passes for 169 yards.
 
Dixie State will wrap up its brief two-game homestand next Saturday as the Trailblazers celebrate Homecoming by welcoming WAC newcomer Stephen F. Austin to Greater Zion Stadium. Kick-off is slated for 7 p.m. (MT).