Bears Down Sandies Head For Rematch With #1 Tigers

Region III Class 2A Championship

Rusk High School. Friday, December 1, 2017 –

The Timpson Bears only trailed for just over a minute in Friday’s Area/Regional Semifinal football game with the Grapeland Sandies. The Bears eventually took a 67-28 win which earned them a Region III Class 2A Championship birth, and a rematch with the District 11 Champions,  Tenaha High School. The Tigers are the state’s #1 Class 2A Division II team and they defeated Iola High School by a 35-14 score to earn their spot. Timpson (10-2) and Tenaha (12-0) will face off at Carthage High School on Thursday, December 7, 2017, at 7 p.m. for the Region III/ State Quarterfinal title. Timpson fell to Tenaha by a 40-6 score in Week11 of the regular season. This was the Bears only conference loss.

During Timpson’s win Jordan Osby ran for 287 yards and six touchdowns. He also converted five two-point conversions. He scored the first touchdown on a 16-yard run with 9:32 left in the first quarter which helped Timpson take an 8-0 lead early.

Brannon Bedre's got Grapeland on the board with five minutes left in the opening period to pull the Sandies to cut Timpson’s lead to 8-6.

Osby scored on counter handoff for a 27-yard touchdown with 3:33 left in the first period. He added his second 2-point conversion run to put Timpson up by a 16-6 score.

Grapeland’s Bedre broke free for a 30-yard touchdown run which cut the Bears lead to 16-12 with seconds left in the first period. The Sandies gained their only lead when Rick Frauenberger found Josh Ackley uncovered in the corner of the endzone with 9:21 left in the first half. A 2-point conversion gave GHS a 20-16 lead.

Osby scored moments later on a 13-yard touchdown and put Timpson back on top, by a 22-20 score, with a 2-point conversion.

Timpson extended their lead to 30-20 after Shane Peveto scooped-and-scored a Sandie’s fumble and ran it 47-yards for a Bears touchdown with 6:15 left in the first half. Bears quarterback Jon Grogan added a 1-yard score for Timpson which gave them a 38-20 lead at the half.

A sixty and a nine yard touchdown by Osby gave THS a 54-20 lead with 7:08 left in the third stanza.

Ackley scored Grapeland’s final touchdown with just 24 seconds left in the third period on a reception from 13 yards out. GHS had pulled to within 54-28.

Osby scored from 60-yards away just seconds before the third period was over. The 2-point conversion failed and THS took a 60-28 advantage into the fourth and final quarter of play.

Grogan broke loose on a 47-yard quarterback keeper run for a score with 8:41 left in the game. Timpson’s extra point kick sailed through the uprights despite being partially blocked. This gave the Bears the final 67-28 margin of victory.