What's that adage – good things come to those who wait? Well after 469 days of waiting after claiming victory in its last Division II game, Dixie State opened its NCAA Division I FCS era with a convincing 26-14 road victory at No. 22 Tarleton State on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. 

The Trailblazers (1-0) racked up 445 yards of total offense, while the DSU defense forced five Texan turnovers, to pick up the well-earned victory.

The DSU defense wasted little time making its presence known as Blazer safety Darrius Nash strip-sacked Tarleton quarterback Cameron Burston on the Texans' second play from scrimmage. Dylan Hendrickson pounced on the ball at the Tarleton 29-yard line and after the TSU personal foul call gave DSU 15 free yards, the Trailblazers were in business at the Texan 14 yard line.

Dixie State punched in its first D-I touchdown two TSU penalties and two plays later when freshman running back Quali Conley scored from 1-yard out to give DSU the quick lead just 4:36 into the game.

The Blazers would add to their led early in the second quarter with a James Baird 37-yard field goal at the 13:16 mark. Then after the two sides traded punts, the Texans mounted their best drive of the game, a 14-play, 71-yard sustained drive that culminated in a Ryheem Skinner 1-yard plunge that cut the DSU lead to 10-7 with 4:05 left in the first half.

DSU needed only four plays to get that score back just before halftime. After Conley collected 24 yards on the ground to begin the possession, Kody Wilstead found a wide-open Chase Hess over the middle for a 43-yard touchdown catch-and-run that pushed the Blazer lead back to 10 points at 17-7.

Tarleton had a chance to get points at the end of the frame as it marched 72 yards down the field 11 plays, but the Texans missed a field goal at the halftime gun.

Tarleton got the ball back to begin the second half, but as was the case in their first possession of the game, the Texans' first trip down the field out of the intermission ended in another fumble. After TSU crossed into the Dixie State red zone, Blazer safety Kaejin Smith-Bejgrowicz forced and recovered a Khalil Banks fumble at the Texan 17 yard line to stop a Tarleton scoring chance.

Dixie State took full advantage as the Trailblazers went 83 yards in seven plays, with the highlight coming again on the arm of Wilstead, who fired a 46-yard strike just out of the reach of a Texan defender and into the arms of senior receiver Deven Osborne, who was ruled down at the 1-yard line.
 
Wilstead then cashed in the Texan miscue one play later as he doved into the endzone to spot DSU a 23-7 lead after a missed PAT at the 9:13 mark of the third period.

Tarleton quickly answered with a touchdown of its own when Kaylon Horton took the ensuing kick off back 93 yards to pull the Texans back to within nine at 23-14.

Dixie State's defense went to work from there as the unit combined to limit Tarleton to just 20 yards the rest of the third quarter, and only 90 yards on 30 plays the rest of the game. Meanwhile the Trailblazers registered three more sacks, including Nash's second sack and fumble of the game early in the fourth quarter, which helped seal the win.

"I'm really proud of our guys - they came out ready to go," Dixie State coach Paul Peterson said. "Before the game started, I talked to our team a little bit about confidence. We were planning on quite a few young guys playing out there, and I just said [to them] follow the leaders – they know how to win."

Wilstead completed 21-of-38 passing for a career-high 350 yards with the one touchdown, while Conley carried the ball 22 times for 73 yards in his first collegiate start. Hess caught five passes for 96 yards, and Osborne finished with 67 yards on five catches. Baird went 2-of-3 in field goals as he also nailed a 48-yarder with 1:24 gone in the fourth quarter. Baird's second field goal was not only his career-high long make, it was also the second-longest field goal make in the program's NCAA era.

DSU's defense recorded four total sacks and six tackles for loss overall. Nash wound up with 10 total tackles to go with his two sacks and two forced fumbles, while linebacker Malaki Malaki collected nine tackles.

"We were excited to be out there and our guys were making some big plays all over the field, and we were able to come away with this big victory," Peterson added. "We came out with a lot of energy, we stuck with each other and trusted one another. We had a bunch of young guys playing, they stepped up and made plays, and we leaned on the older guys to help us get that win and we got it."

Dixie State will head back to the Lone Star State for a "road" date vs. New Mexico State on Sunday, March 7, in the Sun Bowl in El Paso. Kick off is slated for 3 p.m. (MT).