SCHULENBURG— Throughout much of the first quarter, it seemed as if Thorndale had their work cut out for them when facing Schulenburg, who came into Friday night without a win to their name.
However, the Bulldogs began to bite toward the end of the first quarter, when Coy Stutts found Clason Beasley open for a 69-yard touchdown pass. With a successful PAT (point-after-touchdown) kick by Raymond Avalos, THS led 7-0 at the close of the first.
Beasley, who came into Friday night averaging a little more than 28.8 yards per reception through his first four games, started to see double- coverage when play continued in the second quarter. This opened up the field for fellow receiver Jayden Clawson, who scored twice in the quarter to stretch his team’s lead.
The Bulldog sophomore first linked up with Stutts on a 44-yard pass early in the second and caught another, a 22-yard bomb, from the Thorndale quarterback with three seconds left to play in the first half.
Due to a successful twopoint conversion run by Stutts after the first TD and a made extra point by Avalos following Clawson second’s trip to the end zone, the Bulldogs led 22-0 at halftime.
Much of t he same occurred in the third, with Stutts scoring on a oneyard run with 8:21 left in the quarter. Clawson scored for a third time later in the quarter on another 44-yard pass from Stutts. THS went into the final quarter up, 36-0.
Schulenburg was able to put some points on their side of the scoreboard midway through the final quarter on a three-yard run by Rodney Walton. This did little to change anything as Thorndale went on to win their first district contest, 36-7.
Following the game, third-year head coach John Kovar praised his players for how they played.
“We had some good plays, some timely turnovers, and then just some big plays offensively,” he said. “Our kids executed the stuff we drew up well.” The Thorndale alum also said the Bulldogs improved a lot from the week before.
“Overall, we came out a whole lot better than we did last week and played a four-quarter ball game,” he added. “It seemed like we enjoyed being out there and it was a good football game for us.”
STATS— Thorndale’s top receiver with four receptions for 138 yards, scoring on three of those. Beasley, who now has 18 catches for 540 yards through five games, had 89 yards on two receptions against the Shorthorns.
Stutts was 7-of-14 for 260 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 45 yards on 14 carries with one more TD. Avalos led the team in rushing with 57 yards on 10 carries.
dale has a big test this week THIS WEEK— Thorndale when they return home to face Flatonia, who is 4-1 just like THS.
The Fayette County squad has 17 of 22 starters back from their 2021 team and is led by quarterback Fidel Venegas, who has passed for more than a thousand yards through their first five games. Venegas is also a threat on the ground and has help from top receivers Keyshaun Green and Jaidyn Guyton, who is the team’s main running back as well. Their only loss was a 34-14 defeat to perennial power Hallettsville, who is two classifications above both Bulldog teams.
Kick-off i n T horndale i s s cheduled f or 7:30 p.m.
SEASON— After t heir w in o ver t he Shorthorns Friday, Kovar also talked about his team’s non-district slate.
The Bulldogs fell to state-ranked Lexington in their opener before bouncing back to beat Granger in double-overtime in week two. After, THS convincingly defeated Riesel and Iola before District 13-2A-I action commenced this past week with victories of 54-21 and 42-6. “I think our whole pre-season schedule was tough,” he said. “We started off with Lexington and we gave them a hard time.” “ Then Granger’s a good team and that was a great game for us. In our next game we played with Riesel, we played really well with a team that we ended up beating badly. But they were a pretty good team. Last week (against Iola) we struggled a little bit, which maybe we needed to struggle,” he added. “This week, we seemed a lot more focused. We came out from the jump flying around, executing and doing what we’re supposed to do.”
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