THORNDALE – In 2023, the Thorndale football team went 0-10 during a season in which they dropped a trio of one-possession games. It was an unusually poor campaign for a program that hadn’t had a losing season in six years.
But even as the Bulldogs’ varsity squad struggled, a talented crop of freshmen was stringing together junior varsity victories. And three years later, that group is now in its final season and has piloted Thorndale to an 8-0 record and a chance at its first district title since 2014. To end that drought, the senior-laden District 13-2A Division I hopefuls will have to beat fellow unbeaten Rosebud-Lott in their final home game of the season Friday night at Bulldog Stadium.
“Football is a great sport, but when you go 0-10, you know that year is not as fun,” said Cayson Merz, a four-year starter on the offensive line. “When we start playing together, you know, the love for the game just increases tremendously. You just want to keep playing. You don’t want it to go away.”
Bouncing back from 0-10
Thorndale’s winless ways were short-lived. The Bulldogs went 8-4 in 2024, one year after failing to net a single victory. A number of the current seniors broke through to the varsity ranks that year. Thorndale repeated the record in 2025 with a team led by the current group that’s been dominating this year.
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Although the record was the same, last year offered a glimpse of what has come to fruition this fall.
The Bulldogs lost three of their first five games to begin the season before finishing district play on a four-game winning streak. Thorndale also won its bi-district postseason game before falling in the area round to a Ganado team that went 9-1 in the regular season.
“Everybody had to kind of up their game a little bit, and we kind of struggled a little bit early with that,” Thorndale coach John Kovar said. But his team found its way.
“This year they all got to come back in the same roles they played (last year),” the veteran coach added. “Now they’re all seniors, a lot of returning starters, a lot of returning experience on both sides of the ball.”
Strong sendoff season
Thorndale has 28 seniors, according to its roster on MaxPreps. That group has been playing together since it was in seventh grade and found success at every level it competed at together. That track record builds confidence. And that much time together creates cohesion and trust that aids a team in close games.
With this being their farewell campaign, Thorndale’s seniors came into the season motivated to leave on a high.
“I always had a lot of confidence in our team,” said Kale Meadors, a senior linebacker with 80 total tackles in six games this season. “We worked really hard this summer.”
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The dividends showed early. The Bulldogs defeated a quartet of opponents in nondistrict play that has a combined record of 21-10 heading into Week 10. That includes a 28-14 win over archrival Thrall, a triumph that saw Thorndale score 21 unanswered second-half points to propel itself to victory. Merz, who’s now gone 2-2 vs. Thrall, said beating the Tigers, who are 7-1 this season, helped prepare the team for its district title clash Friday.
“That’s a big game for us, and it’s always been a rivalry,” he said. “So when we came out and showed them that we’re better at that game, it just motivates us really to go do good things all year long.”
One last home game, lofty playoff aspirations
In the far right corner of the home side of the bleachers in Bulldog Stadium is a massive orange sign that displays some of Thorndale’s best football, baseball and basketball teams throughout its history. The top-right eighth of the sign is dedicated to football successes, listing each district title, bi-district playoff win and every postseason achievement up to the program’s three state titles, which they won in 1989, 1994 and 1995.
Thorndale has the chance to add another piece to the display Friday with a district title. However, Rosebud-Lott is its toughest test of the season. The 9-0 Cougars have outscored opponents 460-114 and are ranked fourth in Class 2A DI in the latest Dave Campbell’s poll – three spots ahead of Thorndale.
This Friday is easily Thorndale’s biggest test of the season thus far. It will also be senior night and the final time this group of seniors plays at its home stadium.
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Bulldogs players seemed optimistic this week. Still, a loss Friday would not define their season. Each player and coach immediately pointed to the playoffs when asked about their season goals.
Thorndale hasn’t advanced out of the area round in 12 years, which also was the last time it won a district title. Although the Bulldogs would love to win the district crown, the second-round dry spell is the one they’ve aimed to end since the summer.
Defeat against Rosebud-Lott will not end the Bulldogs’ season by any stretch. A victory could help this group of seniors find success Thorndale has not seen in more than a decade.
“It would just raise our drive to keep going even more,” Merz said. “I’m not saying if we lose this game we’re going to go down, but I’m saying we win this game, we got motivation to go really far, and I think we will.”
This article originally published at ‘You just want to keep playing’: Thorndale’s seniors relish chance at an undefeated season.
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