Timpson High School on Friday, October 20, 2023 –
The Timpson Bears have improved their District 11 2A-1 varsity football record to 4-0 with a convincing 69-0 point win over the visiting Joaquin Rams. The Bears are 8-0 overall this season and Joaquin stands at 1-7 for the season, and 1-4 in conference action.
The Rams received the opening kickoff but on the fifth play of their initial drive Timpson senior linebacker Tyler Lane was able to help force a fumble which he recovered to set the Bears up at the Joaquin 41-yardline. On Timpson’s first play senior quarterback Terry Bussey hit senior receiver Vosky Howard for a 45-yard reception to the Rams redzone. A Rams horse-collar penalty on the play moved the ball to the Rams 7-yard line. On first-and-goal Bussey did the rest by scoring on a keeper run with 9:51 left in the opening frame. The Bears extra point kick was blocked by the Rams and THS led 7-0.
Joaquin was forced to punt on their next drive and Timpson started at their 37-yard line. Bussey broke free for a 46-yard run on the first play of the drive and junior runningback JJ Garner took the second down handoff 14 yards for the Bears second touchdown. Lanes successful extra point kick gave the Bears a 13-0 advantage at the 7:52 mark of the first quarter.
The Rams offense was soon after again forced to punt the ball back to the Bears on their next drive. Seemingly disaster struck for Timpson when the kick was mishandled and placed on the Bears 1-yardline to start the next drive, but on first down near his own goal line Bussey broke free on a 99-yard sprint to the endzone for another Timpson touchdown with 1:37 remaining in the first stanza. A Joaquin penalty afforded the Bears an opportunity to go for a 2-point conversion try and Howard ran in to the endzone to give the Bears a 21-0 lead.
Bussey intercepted a Rams pass to set up Timpson on their own 41-yard line with 47 seconds still left in the first period. At the buzzer which ended the first quarter Garner scored on a 21-yard touchdown which helped THS take a 28-0 advantage into the second quarter of play.
Senior defensive lineman Nate Scourton recovered a Joaquin fumble with 10:48 left in the second quarter and Bussey then hit senior receiver Amare Bruton for a 41-yard touchdown pass. Another Lane extra point kick gave THS a 35-0 lead with 10:37 remaining in the first half.
On Joaquin’s next drive they were able to take nearly 4 minutes off the clock but soon stalled. Timpson scored again when Bussey hit Howard for an 86-yard scoring strike which helped give THS a 41-0 advantage at the 6:57 mark of the second period. Soon after Garner recovered a Rams fumble at the 6:50 minute mark.
After a stalled drive by each team, Bussey busted loose for a 29-yard quarterback keeper run for a touchdown with 1:20 left in the half. Lane added another extra point kick and THS led 48-0.
Just 17 seconds into the second half Garner scored on a 67-yard touchdown run to give the Bears a 55-0 lead with 11:43 left in the third quarter. With a running clock, Joaquins next drive soon stalled Timpson sophomore runningback Chris Nickleberry Jr. broke free for a 37-yard run which set up a first-and-goal at the 3-yardline. He finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run which gave the Bears a 62-0 lead at the 5:37 mark of the third period.
Nickleberry Jr. also scored the game’s final touchdown from 34 yards away with 5:35 remaining in the contest the Bears gained the final 69-0 lead which held up to the end of the contest.
Bears Head Coach Kerry Therwhanger said after the game, “We are proud of our team everybody was available to play and we are lucky everyone came away healthy. We had young reserve players come in, some are sophomores, and they did a good job, the future looks bright. We have Shelbyville next week and we will start preparing to play them next week!”
The Bears will travel cross county to Shelbyville on Friday, October 27 for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Dragons Stadium. Shelbyville is 5-2, 3-1 in the district, they came from behind to beat San Augustine on the road Friday by a 40-34 score.
The Rams will host the West Sabine Tigers on Friday, at Rams Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. The Tigers are 3-5 this season and 1-3 in District 11 2A-1 play. They had a bye on Friday.
