#2 Thomson scores 41 unanswered points, routes Hephzibah 55-20

Thomson's De'arious Jones celebrates his touchdown on an interception return Friday.

With 7:30 remaining in the second quarter of Thomson's 55-20 win over region foe Hephzibah, Artest Banks recovered a blocked punt, catching it on the fly in the end zone to give the Bulldogs a 21-10 lead. During the next 10 minutes of play, class AAAA's #2 ranked Thomson would pile on another 28 points, scoring in every imaginable way.

First Tyrek Braswell rushed for his second touchdown of the game from 8 yards out after Mills Ridings completed a long pass to Jacorey Crawford and followed up with a long run to set up Braswell's score. Next Tyrese Jones returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown to give Thomson a 35-10 lead with 1:26 left in the first half. Then before the break, Ridings found Marcus Cade for a pretty touchdown completion from 33 yards out. And finally, right after the third quarter began, De'arious Jones intercepted a pass and ran it back for a touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 49-10 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter.



Before that spree began, Braswell opened the scoring with a touchdown run from inside the 5 yard line. That score came on the third play of the game's first drive, and it was set up by a 43 yard Christian Tutt kick off return and two big gains from scrimmage.

Christian Tutt rushed for a touchdown, tallied over 70 yards returning kicks, and had a tackle for a loss Friday.

Hephzibah answered with a lengthy drive that ended in a Renan Orroyo field goal. Thomson immediately scored again when Braswell set up Tyler Curry's short touchdown run with a long sprint down the right sideline. Curry's score put Thomson ahead 14-3.

The game briefly looked like it would be more competitive than most people expected when Hephzibah's Max Lockwood engineered a touchdown drive on the Rebels' second possession. Lockwood perfectly executed a fake punt on fourth-and-one, finding E'shawn Mayes on a 32 yard completion down the left sideline. Lockwood hit Henri travis in the end zone moments later to cut Thomson's lead to 14-10.

But then the floodgates immediately opened, and the Bulldogs would scored 41 unanswered points, capped off with a score by Tutt, who played his last two snaps of action in the third quarter, rushing the ball twice from direct snap, the second time trucking over a defender at the goal line to give Thomson a 55-10 lead before the substitutes took over.

After the game I spoke with Ridings and Braswell about their respective roles and their teammates: