EL DORADO, KS -- A young Blinn College football team couldn’t overcome a more experienced squad playing in front of a packed house here Saturday night, as the second-ranked Butler Community College Grizzlies defeated the Buccaneers 28-10 in Blinn’s season opener.

The Buccaneers, who feature 60 freshmen on this season’s roster, struggled in the first quarter, as costly penalties helped a talented Butler (2-0) squad jump out to a 14-0 lead.

“We had typical first-game blues,” Blinn coach Ronny Feldman said. “It was just game-situation stuff that we didn’t handle well. We have a lot of freshmen and the pace of a true college game like that is something they haven’t gone through before. It’s totally different at the college level.”

The Buccaneers wouldn’t give up. Donavan Williams, a freshman running back from Belton, punched in a touchdown run and sophomore Kurt Walker booted a 30-yard field goal as the first half ended, cutting Butler’s lead to 14-10.

“We felt pretty good going into halftime,” Feldman said. “We thought we could get some things going, we just didn’t get it done in the second half. Everything that could go bad did.”

Braylon Cannon, a freshman from Austin McCallum, picked off a Butler pass, and Blinn’s defense made a pair of fourth-down stops to keep the Bucs in striking distance, but Blinn never got the big offensive play it was looking for in the second half.

The program lost five starters to Division I programs over the summer.

Blinn will look to rebound in its home opener Saturday when it hosts Southeast Prep at 7 p.m. at Cub Stadium in Brenham.