The Thrall Tigers (3-1) mounted a strong, second-half comeback, but fell a yard short of at least forcing overtime Friday night, as they dropped a 20-14 heartbreaker to the Jewett Leon Cougars (2-2).
“It’s good to have a wake-up call like this going into district,” Coach Aaron Vanecek said after the game. “But, we have to do a better job giving our kids a chance to win. I didn’t do a good job preparing them.”
It was the Cougars’ defense that got the scoring started. On Thrall's first offensive play, Chance Parker dropped back looking for an open receiver in the flat. The ball floated into the right flight and Leon's Caden Hughes stepped in front of the pass and raced 23 yards for the score. The point after failed, but the Cougars led 6-0 with 7:54 to play in the opening quarter.
A short Tiger punt set up the Cougars at their own 48 for their next drive. With the help of a face-mask penalty, the Cougars moved to the Thrall 39. Facing a third and long, Leon quarterback Cooper Stevens dropped back and dumped off a middle screen to Gannan Wise. Wise weaved his way through the Tiger defense for a 39-yard score. Stevens ran in the two-point conversion, making the score 14-0 with 3:24 to play in the first quarter.
Leon upped its lead to 20-0 with 2:17 remaining in the second quarter. Stevens called his own number on a quarterback draw over the right tackle. He raced into the end zone untouched from 16 yards out. The Tigers blocked the point after, but the Cougars held a 20-0 advantage.
The Tigers finally got on the board on their next possession. On second and 10 at the Cougar 38, Parker rolled left and found Landon Gregory open behind the Leon secondary for a 38-yard score. Alejandro Estrada tacked on the point after to cut the lead to 20-7 with 1:01 left in the half. Thrall had one more chance to score before halftime after recovering an onside kick. But, the Tigers turned the ball over on downs and Leon ran out the clock.
In the second half, the Tigers took the kick-off and used Parker’s legs to March down the field. Thrall put together an 11-play drive that reached the Cougar 19. But, the drive stalled, and on fourth and 17 from the 24, Parker launched a pass into the endzone. It looked like the Tigers might get the score, but Leon’s Landon Thomas went high and pulled in the interception.
Thrall’s defense was able to hold the Cougars and forced a punt, and again the Tigers drove into Leon territory, reaching 25, but the Tiger offense stalled and turned the ball over on downs.
“I thought our defense did a good job adjusting in the second half, Vanecek said. “We bent, but didn’t break in the red zone, and I’m proud of the kids for that.”
The Tigers finally broke through early in the fourth quarter. Starting at their own 30, the Tigers put together a 13-play drive, keeping the ball mostly on the ground. Parker picked up the final two yards on a keeper over the right side with 9:48 to play. The point after made the score 20-14.
Leon used its ground game to chew up valuable minutes and seemed content with just running the clock, but with 2:54 remaining in the game, the Tiger defense came up with a big stop at the Tiger 40. A Leon punt gave the Tigers one last chance.
Starting at their own 23, the Tigers used their running game, and two timely passes to move the ball to the Cougar 15 with 54 seconds to play. But, a sack seemingly put the Tigers in trouble, facing fourth down at the 16. On the next play, Parker hit Breken Proctor for a 15-yard gain to the one with eight seconds to play. Proctor was hurt on the play, however. Thrall had no timeouts remaining, so under UIL rules, the referees issued a 10-second runoff, which ended the game.
The Tigers now have a week to rebound and get ready for their District 13 opener at home against Flatonia High School.
