Thornton's late flurry sinks Rebels

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After moving in slow motion for the first three quarters, No. 8 Thornton picked up the pace just in time to avoid an upset on Saturday.

The Wildcats (7-0, 3-0 SICA East) scored three touchdowns in the final 10:01 to edge visiting T.F. South 18-14. Dante Tolbert’s second rushing touchdown of the game, a 3-yarder with 1:23 left, erased a 14-12 deficit.

"Early, we started getting our tempo and we got some penalties [that] kind of took us off our tempo," Thornton coach Bill Mosel said.

The Wildcats (7-0, 3-0 SICA East) managed just 12 rushing yards and 13 passing yards in the first half, which ended with South ahead 14-0 on a pair of touchdowns by Rob Gafford.

The Rebels (5-2, 1-1) had a chance to pad their lead in the third quarter. But they lost a fumble at the Thornton 1-yard line that was recovered by the Wildcats' Emanuel Adams.

"We had them on the ropes," South coach Tom Padjen said. "We score down there, get up three touchdowns, it's a whole different game. But sometimes it's not meant to be."

The Wildcats started their comeback on Tolbert’s 19-yard TD run with 10:01 left in the game.

“We started adjusting to the blitz and the different combinations they were throwing at us,” said Thornton quarterback Darren Jones, whose 37-yard TD run with 5:49 remaining made it 14-12.

“They were dropping eight [back in pass coverage] and doing some things to try to confuse [Jones],” Mosel said. “We went to the run game and I think that caught them.”

Gafford, who had been out with an injury in recent weeks, returned to lead the Rebels with 191 rushing yards on 38 carries.

He had TD runs of 3 and 17 yards in the second quarter. The second score was set up when South recovered a Thornton fumble on the kickoff after the first touchdown.