Thorndale’s 2019 season came to an end on Thursday at Heroes Stadium in San Antonio where Refugio outlasted them 49-20 in the area finals.
Going into the game, not many people thought the Bulldogs had a chance against the Bobcats, Texas Football Magazine’s top-ranked team in Class 2A-I.
“I don’t think anybody believed we had a chance at all,” said Scott Hawkins, THS football coach and athletic director. “Thiry-two players and eight coaches in the locker room, that might’ve been it.”
However, 9-2 Thorndale put up a fight, and came off the field at halftime to a standing ovation from their fans with the game tied at
20.
Thorndale’s lead earlier in the game was the second time a team had led against Refugio all season.
“I wasn’t shocked,” said Scott Hawkins, THS football coach and athletic director. “I knew that if we hit them in the mouth that we could be right with them.
“They haven’t been hit in the mouth since they faced Mart in week five,” he said.
After the Bobcats beat the 2018 2A-II state champion Panthers 48-40 in September, the South Texas squad went on a 6-0 campaign, beating their opponents by a combined 395-61.
“Every piece of film we had on them, we stopped watching after halftime,” Hawkins said. “They would already have their junior varsity in.
“We could tell that some of their defensive linemen were gassed because they haven’t had to work that hard in awhile,” he said
The Cinderella story was short-lived as The Bobcats held Thorndale’s Slot-T offense to less than 100 yards and scored 29 unanswered points to advance past the area finals for the 14th straight season.
“I told our guys at halftime that there was nothing to change and so we didn’t adjust anything,” he said. “(Refugio) ended up having some breaks on offense and we had some bad breaks on offense and that’s just a part of the game.
“We also had a couple of couple of penalties which put us in bad positions. Our offense isn’t designed for second-and-twenty-five.”
PLAY-BY-PLAY–The Bulldog defense made an early statement on the first series of the contest, forcing the Bobcats to turn the ball over on downs after on a fourth-and-eight halfway through the first quarter.
Thorndale’s backfield spent the next five minutes pushing the ball down the field and getting three first downs. Kolt Cauble scored the game’s first points on a 25-yard run.
THS led 6-0 with 1:27 left in the opening quarter.
Refugio proved how fast it could strike right away. Jordan Kelley tied the game on a 55-yard pass from Austin Ochoa 20 seconds later.
The Bulldogs were forced to punt on their next series but got the ball back after intercepting an Ochoa pass.
That led to Cauble scoring his second TD of the game on a seven-yard run.
He also converted the PAT to give THS a 14-6 lead with 6:30 to go in the half.
Refugio struck again when Zavien Willis broke away for a 26-yard run and Ochoa roared across the goal-line with at the 4:17 mark.
Thorndale’s next series was boosted by a Rubio run for 42 yards, putting the Dogs at the RHS 15.
Good field position led to Cauble scoring a third time on a three-yard run. Thorn-dale led 20-14 after the conversion failed.
The Bobcats refused to lag behind with Willis scoring a minute later on a five-yard run. The game was tied 20-20 at halftime.
In the second half, Refugio kept striking, but also took advantage of Bulldog errors.
First, a mishandled interception by THS wound up in the hands of a Bobcat receiver at the one-yard line, leading to Ysidro Mascorro scoring on the next play.
Refugio catapulted its lead to 15 later in the third on a 11-yard run by Naaji Gadsen.
With a minute left in the third period and the number-one team still in reach, the ball went right back to Refugio when the Bulldogs bobbled an onside kick.
Refugio put the game away for good on a one-yard run by Ochoa midway through the fourth quarter and a 63-yard run by Gad-sen.
The Bobcats now play Shiner, which has been ranked second and third throughout the season by Texas Football Magazine. The schools face off at San Antonio’s Judson Stadium on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
LAST YEAR–This is the third straight season THS has lost to Refugio in the area finals.
Thorndale fell to a state finalist Bobcat team 47-13 in 2017 and lost 49-14 last year.
STATS–Thorndale’s leading rusher was Rubio with 15 carries for 128 yards and the team had a total of
283.
The Bobcats were out-gained by Thorndale on the ground with 243 rushing yards but Refugio also had 203 passing yards for a total of 443 on the night.
Thorndale was without leading rusher Michael Herzog, who tore his MCL the week before.
SENIORS–When the Bulldogs ended last season they were only losing eight seniors. This year, they are losing 15.
“We’re really going to have to step it up next year,” Hawkins said. “There’s not a lot of guys coming back and we only had five junior this year.
“We have some guys walking the halls that decided that they only wanted to play basketball or baseball this year and we’re going to try to get them back out. But the guys we have remaining, they learned a lot and they have a lot of fight in them.”
They lose Rubio, the third highest rusher for Thorn-dale this season even with injuries keeping him out for much of the year and most of the offensive line.
Top rushers Herzog and Brymer who combined for over 1500 yards this season and 23 touchdowns are expected back.
Experienced running backs Mason Lindig, Branson McCoy, Coy Stutts, Maddox Rubio and Cayden Nicholson are all slated to return to Hawkins’ Slot-T offense in 2020.
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