HUTTO—In Thursday’s post-season debut, Thorndale came out hot and finished the evening strong, putting away Johnson City by a score of 41-30. However, the end result hardly paints a picture of what the game was like.
Although they ended up winning by double-digits, the Bulldogs spent much of the evening battling an overbearing Eagle defense in order to punch their ticket to the second round.
“That’s a good football team,” THS coach John Kovar said. “That group’s been very successful and well-coached.”
“I thought it would be a tough game, they were really physical and had some bigger kids,” he added. “We had a tough time moving around.”
For much of the first, it was all about the Milam County squad. With a pair of fouryard touchdown runs from Noah Crabtree and Coy Stutts, THS led early, 14-0. Towards the end of the quarter, the Hill Country team began to gain some steam. They slowly pushed the ball up the field before Wyatt Lorenson son scored on the first play of the next quarter, making it 14-7. Thorndale responded on their next drive, with Stutts jumping over the high hurdle that is a fourth down scenario to find Jayden Clawson open in the end zone for a 15-yard TD pass. This put THS up 21-7 with a little more than eight minutes left in the first half. Johnson Cit y refused to back down, with McRae Jacobs scoring on a one-yard run near the four-minute mark. At halftime, THS narrowly led 21-17 after Eagle kicker Cedrick Wolniewitz punched in a 33-yard field goal with three seconds left on the clock.
Trouble continued to brew for the Bulldogs early in the third as Johnson City pushed ahead 24-21 after Lorenson scored his second TD of the night with 10:32 left to play in the quarter. Thorndale was able to push back as time went on. Stutts scored for a second time after breaking away for a 37-yard run, giving his team a 28-24 lead with 3:45 left in the quarter. THS then changed the score to 35-24 when Stutts threw the ball up to Stiles Patin for a 32-yard touchdown pass with 1:40 to go in the third.
Despite Thorndale re-building their lead, Johnson City was anything but defeated. Much like the opening quarter, the Eagles marched down the field towards the end of the third and scored on their first play of the fourth when Jacobs got the ball right in the hands of Josh McKennis for a 28-yard TD pass. With a successful two-point conversion, Thorndale was back on alert, leading by less than a touchdown, 35-30.
Tightening up their defense and forcing the Eagles to turn the ball over on downs, the ’Dawgs were able to get the ball back. They more or less secured a first round victory when Stutts crossed the goal line for a third time with 3:50 left in the game. Even though THS missed the extra point that followed, the score of 41-30 was more than enough to survive and advance to the next round.
During halftime, Kovar focused on motivating his team.
“I went in there and told them at halftime ‘Guys, we’re going to go through the playoffs and face adversity’,” he said. “ ‘The other team is going to punch back. What are we going to do in the second half?’ ” “And the kids responded,” he continued. “I thought our defense was way more physical.”
STATS— Stutts, a THS senior, racked up more than 300 all-purpose yards and five total touchdowns throughout the evening. He led the team with 182 rushing yards on 33 carries and was 8-of-13 for 140 passing yards.
GANADO— Their next opponent finished fourth in District 15-2A-I, but hail from a very competitive district that includes Refugio and Shiner. Both of those teams have either won or played in the state championship every year since 2015.
In Ganado’s most recent outing, they throttled District 16-2A-I champion La Villa 68-6 in a game where GHS scored 21 points in the first quarter and led 55-0 at halftime.
The Jackson County squad is experienced with only four new starters on this year’s team. This includes fourth year quarterback Kyle Bures-Guerrero, who has passed for more than 1,700 yards this season with a 67-percent completion rate.
The two schools meet up at Bastrop Memorial Stadium this Thursday at 7 p.m. The area champion will take on the winner of Refugio and Holland next week.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.