MARIETTA, GA  |  The Night Hawks traveled to Marietta, GA on Wednesday and dominated the competition at the Franklin Gateway Sports Complex.  Thomas defeated both opponents, allowing only seven points.  Thomas earned the #2 seed in the bracket portion of the NAIA Flag Championships.

Thomas 71, Reinhardt 0

The Night Hawks had a perfect game against Reinhardt, scoring on all five of their offensive possessions.  In addition, the Night Hawks used six Eagle interceptions to add six touchdowns.to their total.  Not only did Thomas score every time that they had the ball, but the defense did not allow the Eagles to cross mid-field with the ball.

Thomas opened the game on defense, forcing Reinhardt to punt on their first possession.  After gaining possession, the Night Hawks took less than two-minutes to put points on the scoreboard.  Gisele Jones would be on the receiving end of an Alexa Wilson pass, for the score (Nakerra Brown PAT).  The touchdown pass would be the 100th of Alexa Wilson's career.

Aliyah Wood would intercept the second pass on the next possession, to set the Night Hawks up for another score.  Three plays later, Wilson would hit Kiana Acol for the score (Wood PAT), to put Thomas ahead, 14-0, with just over 5-minutes remaining in the 1st quarter.

After an Eagle punt, Wilson would go deep and hit Kiera Knight, on the first play, for a 32-yard touchdown (PAT failed), to put Thomas ahead 20-0, as the 1st quarter closed out.

Maddie Houghland would intercept a pass on the following drive, setting up a short field for the Night Hawks.  Three plays later, Wilson would find Kiera Knight in the end zone, for another score (PAT failed).  

Wood would intercept her second pass of the day, three plays into the next Reinhardt drive.  Then Wood would catch a touchdown pass, on the first play, of the ensuing possession, to give Thomas a 33-0 lead (Brown PAT).

Kiera Knight would get into the interception business, picking a pass on the second play of the next Eagle possession.  Thomas took its time scoring, this time, using five plays before securing a touchdown.  Knight would catch a 15-yard touchdown pass from Wilson (Acol PAT).

After a Reinhardt punt, Thomas would take possession with approximately 90-seconds remaining int he half.  Thomas would take one-minute and five plays for Gisele Jones to be on the receiving end of another Wilson touchdown pass, from 15-yards away (Acol to Knight PAT), to give Thomas a 47-0 lead.

Reinhardt would try to end the half with a positive note.  Instead, Nakerra Brown would end the half on a 20-yard pick-six, for the Night Hawks, to set the score at 53-0 to end the half (PAT failed).

To add insult to the Eagle's injury, Thomas would have the ball to open the 2nd half.  The Night Hawks would put together a five-minute drive to score another touchdown.  Wilson would hit back-up receiver, Sha'Miyah Coward for the 16-yard score (PAT failed).

Janae Scott, defensively, would take over the next Reinhardt drive.  On three consecutive plays, Scott would record a tackle, a tackle-for-loss, and a 20-yard pick-six, to give Thomas a 65-0 lead (PAT failed).

As the 4th quarter began, the second unit began to see more playing time for the NIght Hawks.  QB Tara Llorente would keep the Night Hawks clicking, tossing a 25-yard touchdown pass to Diva Jones (PAT failed), to set the score at 71-0.

Reinhardt would get one final possession, and be forced to punt.  The only possession that Thomas would not score would be this final possession, following the punt, gaining possession on the Reinhardt 38-yard line with only 00:08 remaining in the game.

Thomas 33, Kansas Wesleyan 7

The Night Hawks and the Coyotes game would start out as a defensive battle.  There would be three possessions, combined, in the 1st quarter, with Thomas having two of them.  Each possession would end with a punt.  

Kansas Welseyan would open the 2nd quarter with the ball. On the third play, the Coyotes would complete a 50-yard touchdown pass and run, to take a 7-0 lead over Thomas.  

The Night Hawks would not be phased by the deficit.  Thomas would take two-minutes to drive 66-yards for the score.  Gisele Jones would catch a 24-yard touchdown pass from Alexa Wilson (PAT failed), to cut the deficit to 7-6.

Kansas Wesleyan would drive deep into the Night Hawk red zone.  The Thomas defense would stop the Coyotes three consecutive times, from inside the 5-yard line, to force a turnover on downs.  Gisele Jones would have a pass-break-up on the goal line, followed by a flag pull at the 1-yard line, on 3rd and 4th down, respectively.

After Wilson completed a pass to Margarita Pena, to the 10-yard line, to give Thomas some breathing room, the Night Hawks would pull off a hook-and-ladder play, that would make the 1982 Miami Dolphins blush.  Wilson would complete a curl pass to Aliyah Wood at the 15-yard line.  Wood would then lateral the ball to Nakerra Brown, who initially tip-toed the sideline, and then raced the remaining 65-yards, for the score (PAT failed).  Thomas would own a 12-7 lead, and not look back.

On the next possession, Janae Scott would deflect a Coyote pass into the hands of an awaiting Gisele Jones, for the interception.  Four plays later, Wilson would complete a pass to Aliyah Wood, for the touchdown (Kiera Knight PAT), putting Thomas ahead 19-7, at halftime.

Kansas Wesleyan would open the 3rd quarter, with the ball.  After the two teams traded punts, the Coyotes would be picked off by the Night Hawks Gisele Jones, at the KWU 22-yard line.  Alexa Wilson would toss an 8-yard touchdown pass to Nakerra Brown (Wood PAT), giving Thomas a 26-7 lead, to end the 3rd quarter.

Both teams would turn the ball over on downs to open the 4th quarter.  Gisele Jones would intercept a pass on the next Coyote possession, at mid-field, and then pitch the ball to Aliyah Wood, who wold complete the return to the KWU 15-yard line.  Thomas would keep the ball on the ground for this possession.  Kiana Acol and Janae Scott would each carry the ball on the three plays, with Acol completing the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run (Tara Llorente to Sha'Miyah Coward PAT), for the final score of the day.

NOTES

• Alexa Wilson would toss her 100th touchdown of her career, and finish the day with 111 career touchdowns.  Wilson tossed a Thomas record eight touchdown passes in the Reinhardt game.  Wilson has 64 passing touchdowns this season.  
• Gisele Jones would have three receptions on the day, all for a touchdown.  Jones would add three interceptions and nine flag pulls.
• Aliyah Wood would catch 13 passes for 105 yards, two for touchdowns, two interceptions, and two PAT conversions.
• Nakerra Brown would average 23 yards per receptions, with four receptions for 92 yards, with two touchdowns.
• Kiera Knight would have 9 catches, for 99 yards, and three touchdowns.
• Janae Scott would lead the team with 11 flag pulls, including one sack, and a pick-six.
• Kaitlyn Herb would add two sacks to her team record.  She also recorded her 40th tackle-for-loss on the season.  Herb punted the ball three times, with all three landing inside the opponent's 20-yard line.

With the Thomas performance, the Night Hawks earned the #2 seed in bracket play, and a bye into the semi-final round.  Quarterfinal matches will occur on Thursday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.  Thomas will face the winner of the Keiser vs. St. Thomas game.  The other quarterfinal match-up will feature Warner vs. Webber International.  The winner of the other quarterfinal game will face Ottawa (KS) in the other semi-final game.  The Sun Conference owned five of the six positions in the championship bracket, with the KCAC's Ottawa, the three-time defending champion, owning the remaining slot.  

The first semifinal game is scheduled for 9am on Friday, with the Thomas game scheduled at 11am.  The Championship Game is set for 3pm.   For up-to-date information on this game and other TU Athletics, visit http://www.TUNightHawks.com.