MEXIA—In what was a battle between two high-scoring teams, the outcome of Thorndale’s bi-district playoff game with Alto came down to the final quarter.
Going into the fourth, the Bulldogs led 20-14 with touchdowns from Stryker Leschber, Coy Stutts and Clason Beasley but that changed more than midway through the quarter when Alto’s A.J. Buckingham tied the game on a 4-yard push near the goal line.
The Yellowjackets took the lead 21-20 on the extra point with 4:41 seconds left in the game.
With enough time to score, the Bulldogs didn’t waste much of it. After a two-play drive ended with Stutts pump-faking before flinging a 38-yard pass to Branson McCoy, who then ran the ball another 25-yards to get the Bulldogs their game-winning touchdown.
“I knew Branson was wide open,” THS coach John Kovar told David Hall after the game. “That play has been in the game plan for about six weeks now.”
Kovar also complimented Stutts and his arm, but said that he will likely be sore tomorrow.
Thorndale went up 28-21 after Aiden McRae pitched the ball to Luke Merz in the backfield, who found Beasley open in the end zone for two more points.
With a little less than four minutes to play, the Bulldogs stopped the Yellowjackets on their final series, winning the game and advancing to the second round of the post-season.
“I thought the kids just wanted it.” Kovar said. “They just played so stinking hard the entire time.”
“They fought through some adversity, some things went our way for a little while but (Alto) just kept fighting and they went up,” he continued. “We responded in a big way with the next drive and had a great stop at the end.”
The big win comes after THS rolled through their first four weeks of district play undefeated but ended their sixgame slate with two losses to rival Thrall and district champion Hearne.
“These kids, they’ve had some bad luck the last few weeks,” Kovar said. “It seemed like every ball bounced in the other team’s direction. And tonight wasn’t perfect, but they kept responding and I’m proud of the fight.”
Top performers of the evening were Stutts, who was 8-for-12 with 163 passing and 57 rushing yards. Leschber racked up the team’s most rushing yards with 72 on 14 carries and Beasley finished with 77 yards on three catches.
THIS WEEK—Thorndale takes on Timpson Friday evening in Fairfield.
The Bears, ranked third by Texas Football magazine in Class 2A-I, are coming off a 2020 season where they fell to Shiner in the state semi-finals 49-7.
Since starting the 2021 season, the East Texas school has been on fire, outscoring district opponents 215-19 and shutting out Frankston last week 62-0.
Timpson coach Kerry Therwinger told Tyler’s KLTV earlier this year that his team’s biggest strength is their offensive line, with all five starters from last year’s group still there.
The team also has four other starters back on offense including the back field tandem of Braden Courtney(2,217 yards, 38 TD) and Terry Bussey (1,236 rushing, 557 receiving, 38 TD). They also have seven of their 11 defensive players from the 2020 run still on the roster.
Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
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