The Thorndale Bulldogs defense shut out the Bremond Tigers to give the Bulldogs their season opening victory at home 34-8 on Friday, Sept. 7.
“I was really impressed with how our defense swarmed the ball,” said Scott Hawkins, head football coach and athletic director at Thorndale High School. “They actually shut the Tigers out since their only touch down was off a fumble recovery.”
As other area teams were playing their second game, the Thorndale Bulldogs defense held the Bremond Tigers to just 68 yards rushing on 36 attempts.
Offensively, Thorndale’s Slot-T offense was effective against the team Texas Football Magazine ranked eighth in 2A-DII. The Bulldogs rushed for 329 yards on 48 attempts and were led by junior Jagger Rubio (13-128, 3 TD) and senior Luke Leschber (15-119, 3 TD) in the backfield.
The Bulldogs got ahead 7-0 at the 4:03 mark in the first quarter with a 36-yard run by Leschber, followed by an extra point from sophomore Michael Herzog.
The Bulldogs got an early touchdown run from Rubio for 14 yards six seconds into the second quarter. Herzog made the extra point, making the score 14-0. Leschber scored near the end of the second on a 21-yard run. The two-point conversion failed, but the Bulldogs led 20-0 with 2:40 left in the half.
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L 47 Thorndale 28 got the ball back DN , but fumbled the ball in Bremond’s territory. Tiger junior Casey Garrett recovered the ball and ran it 32 yards for their only touchdown of the game. Bremond completed a two-point conversion with a Seth Kasowski pass to junior wide receiver Hunter Wilganowski. At halftime the score was 20-8.
In the second half, the Bulldogs continued to keep the Tigers out of the end zone, and the Bulldogs scored twice more. Rubio scored once in the third quarter on a 23-yard run with 1:22 on the clock, and again in the fourth quarter on a 45-yard run with 7:18 left to play. Both extra points attempted by Herzog were successful. The Bulldogs won 34-8.
“Offensively, we still need to stay on blocks longer,” said Hawkins. “We’ll definitely need to do that to have success against Axtell next week.”
The Thorndale Bulldogs play their first road game of the 2018 season this week against the Axtell Longhorns. The Horns were picked sixth in district 8-2A DI, but are off to a 2-0 start with huge victories over Dawson (49-0) and Malakoff-Cross Roads (50-12). Kickoff starts at 7:30 p.m.,-Friday, Sept. 14 in Axtell.
THS 34, BHS 8
THS BHS
16 First Downs 9 48-329 Rushing 36-68 0-3-1 Passing 5-17-1 0 Passing yards 52 51-329 Total yards 52-120 1-40 Fumbles 5-30 3-2 Punts 4-0 4-23 Penalities 9-6w
Score by quarters
THS 7 13 7 7 34 BHS 0 8 0 0 8
Scoring summary
First quarter
Thorndale—Luke Leschber 36 run (Herzog kick) 4:08
Second quarter
Thorndale—Rubio 14 run (kick good) 11:54
Thorndale-Leschber 21 run (2 pt failed) 2:40
Bremond-Garrett 32 fumble run(2 pt Kasowski pass Wilganowski) 1:13
Third quarter
Thorndale—Rubio 23 run (kick good) 1:22
Fourth quarter
Thorndale—Rubio 45 run ( kick good) 7:18
RHS individual leaders
Rushing: Luke Leschber 15-119-2; Jagger Rubio 13-128-3; Scott Guzman 14-49; Caden Nicholson 6-33; Team 48-329. Passing: Caden Nicholson 0-3-1 INT.
Last week: Burton 47, Milano 16; Thrall 34, Moody 20; Whitney 43, Marlin 0; Rosebud 28, Chilton 0; Mart 34, Holland 7; Grosbeck 28, Hearne 6.
This week: Milano at Bremond; Thrall at Flatonia; Groesbeck at Marlin; Rosebud at Rio Vista; Florence at Holland; Legacy School of Sports Sciences at Hearne.
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