LAKE CHARLES – Tarleton State scored 35 second half unanswered points and rolled up 554 yards or offense to lead it to a 52-34 season-opening win over McNeese in front of 12,074 fans in Cowboy Stadium on Saturday night in a game whose start time was delayed 55 minutes due to lightning.
 
Tarleton quarterback Victor Gabalis completed 20 of 34 passes for 344 yards and three touchdowns while throwing two interceptions. Running back Derrell Kelly rushed for 136 yards on 18 carries and a score while rusher Kayvon Britten ran for 82 yards and scored two touchdowns.
 
The Cowboys, who looked sharp offensively throughout fall camp and in the two scrimmages, never seemed to get it going as the team recorded 189 yards passing and 89 rushing for a total of 278 yards.
 
"I stood there shell-shocked a little bit," said second-year head coach Gary Goff. "There are no excuses and I don't want anybody to make any for us. We gotta get better and we will."
 
McNeese did show some flashes of what it can do and there were several missed opportunities that had they been successful, things might have ended differently.
 
One of the bright spots occurred right after Tarleton took a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter. On the ensuing kick-off, Cam Thomas returned it 91-yards for a touchdown to tie the game.
 
The Texans regained the lead at 14-7 after a 5-yard completion to Jaden Smith to cap a 12-play, 73-yard drive with 4:04 remaining in the opening quarter.
 
McNeese answered two series later when D'Angelo Durham ran it in from 6-yards to tie the game at 14-14 with 9:37 to play in the second quarter. The Cowboys forced Tarleton into a fumble on its next possession and McNeese took a 17-14 lead on a Garrison Smith 27-yard field goal with 5:34 to play in the half.
 
The Texans got a 41-yard field goal by Adrian Guzman as time expired to tie the game 17-17 at the half.
 
McNeese opened the second half with the ball and put together an impressive drive that went 12-plays and 75-yards that ended with a Nate Glantz 1-yard dive to put the Cowboys on top 24-17. The drive consisted of two, third-down conversions while five of the 12 plays went for 10 yards or more.
 
The defense held tough on the next Texans' drive to force a punt and on the next McNeese possession, an opportunity to possibly go up by 14 points was just off the mark when a Glantz pass in the flats to a wide-open Jon McCall was short. McCall's defender slipped down leaving wide open field to the end zone 81 yards down the field.
 
Instead, the Cowboys had to punt and Tarleton wasted little time to tie the game, scoring on a 62-yard pass by Gabalis to Dejuan Miller with 6:33 to go in the third quarter. From there, the Texans scored 35-straight points in a span of 15 minutes to pull away for the win.
 
Glantz scored on a 1-yard run then Smith split the uprights on a 26-yard field goal to end the night's scoring.
 
Glantz ended the night by completing 15 of 35 passes for 166 yards. He also rushed for 34 yards and scored two rushing touchdowns. He was sacked six times.
 
Jalen Johnson caught six passes for 49 yards to pace the Cowboys while newcomer Jihad Marks caught five passes for 52 yards.
 
Defensively, Levi Wyatt and Johnquai Lewis each picked off passes while Micah Davey ended the night with 12 tackles.
 
McNeese will begin the first of three straight road trips next Saturday when it visits the SEC's Florida Gators at 6:30 on ESPNU.