FAIRFIELD–Thorndale’s fans still cheered loudly throughout the fourth quarter Friday evening as their team trailed by more than 50 points to Timpson, Texas Football magazine’s third-ranked team in Class 2A that also featured a roster with 16 of their 22 starters from their 2020 state semi-finalist team.
Although the final score ended with the Bears winning 74-13, the Bulldogs battled early.
Timpson didn’t score until late in the first quarter when sophomore Terry Bussey broke past the Thorndale defensive line for a 59-yard touchdown. A successful two-point conversion put the East Texas squad up 8-0.
The Bulldogs matched that under a minute into the second when senior Stryker Leschber got past the left guard on a fouryard TD run. Colton Merryman’s extra-point made the score, 8-7.
The Bears fired back immediately after a surprise onside kick led to them getting the ball near the 50-yard line, which led to a Bussey touchdown pass to Vosky Howard on the next play. With Braden Courtney running in the twopoint conversion, Timpson led 16-7 with 11:15 left in the half.
After the Bears made it 24-7 with a little less than eight minutes remaining in the first half, Thorndale moved the ball down field with junior quarterback Coy Stutts erasing a 12-yard loss on a bad snap after finding classmate Clason Beasley open for a 36-yard pass to move the team up the field to the Timpson 48-yard line.
Thorndale kept moving the ball up field on a 10-yard run up the middle, a two-yard run by Aiden McRae and a three-yard pass from Stutts to Chance Betak.
However, the ‘Dawgs didn’t end the drive w ith any points scored and Timpson added to their lead with another fast touch-down to make it 32-7.
Timpson would go on to score another two touchdowns before the end of the half to lead 46-7 and prevailed after adding to their lead in the final two quarters.
“We knew the whole time this was going to be a really good team,” said Bulldog coach John Kovar. “It was going to take us playing our best and we just made too many mistakes on offense to not score points in the first half, which we were going to have to match them touchdown for touchdown.”
“I for sure thought for a second that it would be 24-14 right before and we just didn’t get it in and it kind of went the opposite way in a hurry,” he said
Despite the outcome, Kovar is proud of his team and says this season was definitely one he and the community will remember.
“This group has played hard for us all year and it’s a successful group,” Kovar said. “I think we’re all going to look back and say it was a good year because it was.”
“We ran into a really good team in the second round and I wish we would’ve seen (Timpson) a little later on,” he said. “But overall, we’ve got good kids and they’re going to work hard for us and I’m proud of them.”
SEASON—Kovar said going into the fall of 2021 that he was concerned about his team’s depth but said mid-way through district play that he underestimated how deep his team was.
THS went 3-1 in the pre-season with their only loss being to District 12-12A-I champion Centerville 42-28 before starting off district play with a bang, beating eventual district champ Holland for the first time since 2014, 35-10.
After taking down another eventual playoff team, Rosebud-Lott, the following week, 23-7, the Bulldogs blasted Bruceville-Eddy, 55-7.
The Bulldogs ended district play in third place after an overtime loss to Thrall, 42-35, and a 21-14 loss to Hearne, the district runner-up.
With a third place finish, THS took on Alto in the opening round of the post-season.
Finishing second in District 12-2A-I, the Yellowjackets were seen as an even matchup for the Bulldogs and even shared a common opponent (Centerville) who the Yellowjackets lost to 38-16 in October.
When the two teams met, it was neck-and-neck with the game being won on a 63-yard touchdown pass from Stutts to senior Branson McCoy, 28-21.
Stats for the Timpson game weren’t made available due to the holiday week’s early deadline and as a result, season stats were not printed.
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