The Thorndale Bulldog’s came close to pulling off a comeback for the ages against the Leon Cougars in the 2A Bi-District Playoff round. Unfortunately, they fell just short as they lost in a 40-34 heartbreaker.
“Leon pretty much had a perfect game in the first half,” THS Head Coach John Kovar said. “We challenged our guys to fight at halftime, and that’s exactly what they did. We just came up a little short at the end.”
The Cougars began the game firing on all cylinders. Leon’s Luis Guillen secured the first touchdown of the contest with 34-yard run. Nick Leggett received the pass from Jason Robinson for two-point conversion. The Cougars offense struck again as Tyson Cornett snagged a 15-yard pass from Robinson. The twopoint conversion was no good. The Bulldogs would get their first score on a twoyard run by Coy Stutts. Leon led the game 14-7 after one quarter.
In the second quarter, the Cougar passing attack began to roll. On Leon’s first two offensive drives, Robison dialed-up a fiveyard touchdown pass to Cornett and a 40-yard pass to Logan Noey. Both twopoint conversion failed. Cornett secured his third touchdown of the game on a 21-yard catch from Robison to extend their lead. On the next drive, Robison threw his fifth touchdown of the half connecting with Noey on a five-yard touchdown. At the end of the quarter, Thorndale’s Cain Brymer punched in six-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion failed making the score 40-13 at halftime.
In the second half, the Bulldogs began to turn things around. Mason Lindig began the Thorndale comeback scoring on a fiveyard run. Chance Betak snagged a pass from Stutts for the two-point conversion. The Cougars led 40-20 after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs continued to fight as their season was on the line. Stutts connected with Brymer on a 15-yard touchdown pass. The two-point try was no good. The final score came as Stutts used his speed to dash down the field on a 29-yard touchdown run.
Cutting Leon’s lead to just six points, the Bulldogs had a chance to win. With under two minutes to go, Thorndale was about to score the winning touchdown. However, it wasn’t meant to be as the Cougars snagged an interception to end the game.
Stutts went 15 of 30 for 201 yards and one touchdown. Lindig led the team in rushing with 89 yards on 20 carries, while Cayden Nicholson led in receiving with six catches for 84 yards.
“Overall, I feel this season was a success,” Kovar said. “Despite dealing with COVID and the uncertainity of the season, our kids competed like crazy in every game.”
The Bulldogs finished the year with a 6-4 record overall and a 4-2 record in district play.
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