LAKE WALES, Fla. - Thomas earned their first overall and conference win of the season against the Warner Royals 27-21
on Saturday night.
The Night Hawks got it done with their style, hard running and tough defense. Thomas set the tone in the first scoring drive when
Corey Sanders Jr. started off with a strong six-yard run.
Charles Britt followed suit and found
Blake Mays for a 17 yard gain to get into Royals territory. After a Britt run on third down, the sophomore found
James Amaker who brought Thomas down to the two-yard line. A play later,
Elijah Alston muscled his way into the end zone for touchdown to put the Night Hawks up 7-0. Warner's drive looked promising, with Jaylen Thompson ripping off a ten-yard run to bring the Royals to the Thomas side of the field however, the Night Hawk defense held strong, and forced a turnover on downs to stop the momentum.
The ensuing Thomas drive brought a heavy dose of the run, back-to-back seven-yard rushes by Alston and
Jacobi Demps brought the Night Hawks back into enemy territory, before Britt scrambled out of the pocket for a huge 30-yard run to the Warner 18-yard line. Thomas could not manage to get any further as they settled for a field goal 27-yard field goal from
Braxton Crawford which brought the lead to double digits 10-0.
The Royals started to answer back as what could have been an interception by
Brody Stinson was called back due to an offsides penalty which gave the offense a first down on the Thomas side of the field. After a couple of short yard passes, Hamm called his own number and weaved through the defense for a touchdown to bring the deficit down to three.
The drive for the Night Hawks was almost a disaster as 16-yard rush by
Demari Foster resulted in a fumble but was recovered by the offense. A four-yard rush by Foster got Thomas across the 50 again. After a run for no gain, Britt found Sanders Jr. again, for ten yard gain giving the Night Hawks an opportunity to get some points before the half. A second down hand off to Foster got the Night Hawks down to the Warner 27-yard line however the offense stalled and were forced to kick. Crawford attempted a 44-yard field goal, which hit splitting right between the uprights. The field goal was Crawford's career long and the new program record which was previously 30 yards.
With only
3:40 left to go in the half, The Royals began driving down the field, but a sack from
Gary Gaither gave the defense an opportunity to give the ball back to the offense. Hamm completed a pass to Rigens Andre for ten yards but failed to pick up the first down. Thomas made a stop on fourth down, but it was called back due to another offsides penalty against the Night Hawks. After a holding penalty backed up the Warner offense,
Symeon Cobham-Portorreal sacked Hamm for another 5 yards putting the defense in another great position to a stop before halftime. However, back-to-back big plays by the offense set up a first down at the Night Hawk 30-yard line, another fourth down conversion, Hamm found Omarius Davis for a score to put the Royals up by one heading into the locker room.
Thomas received the ball in the second half but was halted when a fumble from a mishandled hand off gave Warner the ball back in good field position. The drive started exactly as the Royals wanted as Andre blasted through with a 38-yard run to the Night Hawk 29-yard line. A run by Jeremiah Johnson brought the Royals into the redzone. The Thomas defense continued to stand tall and forced a field goal from Warner that went wide right.
The ensuing drive started out well for the Night Hawks after a facemask call and then a roughing the passer call brought up to their own 39-yard line before Foster broke a huge 21-yard run to the Warner 40. A
Zach Thomas holding penalty killed the momentum for the offense and the drive looked to be stalled out and forced the Night Hawks to punt. However a roughing the kicker call on the punt breathed new life into the offense as Britt found Jahiem James for a 31-yard reception to the goal line, then on 3rd and goal Britt took it in himself to capture the lead again for Thomas late in the third quarter.
On the next drive by the Royals, the defense stepped up big time, with a sack from
Vencent Bostick on first down, on third down
Jarius Curry got to Johnson, and finally on fourth down Bostick got to the quarterback again to give the Night Hawks the ball back going into the fourth.
At the start of the fourth, Britt showed off his running ability again breaking off a 17-yard run to the Royal 20 yard-line then Alston ran the ball three straight times to score once again putting Thomas up 27-14 with
11:38 remaining.
After a good kick return gave Warner great starting field position, Johnson found Cameron Miller for a 23 yard gain to the Night Hawk 28. A couple of defensive stops later, it was 4th and 5, with the defense having another opportunity to stop Warner in their tracks. Johnson found a way to convert when he connected with Evens Valcourt for nine-yard gain and a fresh set of downs. Johnson ran right down the middle for a touchdown to bring it back to a single possession game 27-21 with
9:36 to go.
The following Thomas drive started out promising with Alston ripping off an 11-yard run on the first play. That would be the most yards the Night Hawks gained on the drive, as it stalled afterward. On the punt return, Warner returned it to their own 36-yard line with
6:48 to go.
After a third down conversion for the Royals set up a fresh set of downs at their own 49-yard line Johnson found Hazaia Philips for a 39-yard gain to the Thomas 12-yard line. A seven-yard run from Jaylen Thompson set up a second down at the five-yard line. With their backs against the wall, the defense stepped up again with
Thomas Williams tackling Johnson for a three-yard loss and then
William Taylor stopping Thompson at the four-yard line, making it a fourth and goal with two minutes and some change left. Then Curry, made the biggest tackle of the season to date, stopping Thompson for no gain to force a turnover on downs with a single possession being the difference.
With the ball back, Alston went to work running for eight yards to get a first down, and then running for six yards for second and short. Following a false start penalty, Alston ripped off a 22-yard run to ice the game and seal the deal.
Thomas finished 356 yards of total offense, with 226 of those yards coming on the ground. Alston accounted for 89 of those while Britt accounted for 65 to go with his 130 yards of passing. On the defense side of things, Curry finished with six total tackles and a sack and Cobham-Portorreal had four tackles, two of them for loss and one sack.
Head Coach
Orlando Mitjans said about the win: "I am proud of these young men. They played hard for 4/4 and didn't give up. We played well in all phases, special teams, offense and defense and we did it for 4/4. When you do those things, you have a chance to win some games and today we did that, and we came out victorious."
The Night Hawks will come back home next week for SUN conference matchup with the #1 team and defending national champion Keiser
on Saturday, October 26th at 7:00 PM
