With the scoreboard showing Thrall facing a 36-7 deficit just before halftime Friday, it would have been easy for coach Aaron Vanacek’s squad to throw in the towel and wait for the bus ride home.
Instead, the Tigers scored the next two touchdowns, forced two second-half fumbles and, after a Wes Smileyto- Reed Crabb 10-yard scoring strike early in the fourth quarter, found themselves down by only two touchdowns.
The game was within reach if everything went their way. But the Comfort Bobcats drove 71 yards in four minutes, scoring on a 10-yard run to move the scoreboard to 57-35 with just 3:30 left in the game.
A final Thrall score, C.J. Kelm’s 2-yard TD brought the Tigers within 14 points again, but with only 1:33 left to play. The ensuing onside kick was recovered by Comfort, which ran out the clock for the 57-43 win.
“It was a big game.
Obviously, you just want to win. It doesn't matter if you win 2-0 or 52-0, you just want to win,” Vanacek said after the contest.
“We had some self-inflicted wounds that gave us some fits throughout the game, and that was unfortunate,” the coach added.
Three Tigers — Kelm, Smiley and Mason Rodriguez — each tallied two scores on the night to pace the offense. The defense couldn’t stop the Bobcat attack in the first half, as Comfort scored every time it touched the ball in running away to a 36-7 lead. The Bobcats ran for 552 yards and had a pair of 100-yard rushers in Gabriel Gonzales (14 carries, 193 yards, two touchdowns) and Carter Pape (15 carries, 159 yards, TD). This marked the second week in a row that Thrall lost to an opponent who did not complete a pass as Blanco ran for more than 450 yards in a 49-3 rout of the Tigers Oct. 17.
Despite the rough first half, Rodriguez’s scores put the Tigers back in the hunt. He scored on an 8-yard run with just 19 seconds left in the first half, then produced the first touchdown of the second half, trimming the Comfort lead to two scores, at 36-22.
But the Tigers would get no closer, trading scores the rest of the way en route to the 57-43 final.
“You look at every game this year; we beat Lexington in the second half, Blanco’s the only game since week two we didn’t win the second half,” Vanacek said.
“Unfortunately, that last four or five minutes of the second quarter is something we haven’t been able to master.”
Kelm (16 carries, 92 yards, two TDs), Smiley (21 carries, 84 yards, TD) and Rodriguez (10 carries, 51 yards, two TDs) led the Thrall rushing attack. Smiley also completed 16 of 27 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown.
Logan Heselmeyer led the Tigers in receiving with six catches for 113 yards. Crabb (three catches, 33 yards, TD) and Jack Gustafson (four catches, 33 yards) also had multiple catches.
The loss drops Thrall to 2-7, 0-3 in District 13-3A DII, with only one game left, a home game Friday with the Rogers Eagles, who are 5-3, 1-1 in district. If the Tigers defeat the Eagles by 15 points or more and both Rogers and Comfort lose out, Thrall would be involved in a three-way tie with those teams.
The district tiebreaker is 15 points margin of victory. Rogers defeated Comfort, 39-6, Oct. 17, which gives the Eagles the 15-point maximum.
The Bobcats defeated the Tigers by 14, which means Thrall clinches a playoff spot in the event of a three-way tie if it beats Rogers by 15 or more. Comfort faces Lexington this week and Blanco the next, while Rogers battles Lexington in two weeks.
Thrall Tigers senior running back scored a touchdown in a 57-43 loss to Comfort on Friday, Oct. 24 Photo by Larry Pelchat
