THOMASVILLE, Ga,- In their final tune-up before conference play, the Night Hawks fell to the Union Commonwealth Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
The game featured two teams who pride themselves on running the football and stout defense and there was plenty to see. Union started off fast with a couple of short yard rushes before completing a 39 yard pass play to the Night Hawk 10, after a holding penalty took away the first touchdown, three plays later, the Bulldogs found the end zone to go up 7-0. On the ensuing drive, Thomas looked poised to answer back, driving down to the Union 30 yard line. The Night Hawks would go for it on 4th and 7 and failed to convert, however, the offense did not have to wait long for another possession as
Timothy Moses picked off Union quarterback Bryson Grabowski to give the Night Hawks the ball back at the 50.
Charles Britt found
James Amaker on third down to put Thomas in the red zone, but Union's defense held strong as the Night Hawks had to settle for a field goal from
Braxton Crawford to narrow the margin to five. The Bulldogs again responded quickly, ripping off a nine play, 67 yard drive capped off with a two yard rushing touchdown to extend the lead to double digits.
The touchdown was the last one until the fourth quarter as both defenses held strong. Union lined up for a field goal to go up by two touchdowns before half, but the Thomas special teams unit came up big as
LeMarcus Wright got through the line and blocked the kick to keep the deficit at 11 going into the locker room.
The first possession for the Night Hawks coming out from half was promising but failed to yield any results. However, the defense rose to the occasion as
Khalil Wright snagged another interception for Thomas. Not to be outdone though, the Bulldogs forced another stop to put the Night Hawks back on defense. Once again, the defense came up big with a third interception, courtesy of
William Taylor.Â
Thomas held the ball with ideal field position to start the fourth quarter, after a pass interference call on 3rd and 5 gave the Night Hawks a first down at the Union 42, the offense gained momentum and seemed ready to get into the end zone. Unfortunately, an illegal formation call wiped out a
James Amaker run which saw Thomas knocking on the door of the red zone, the penalty also killed any momentum for the offense and the drive later resulted in a punt. The defense forced another stop to give the Night Hawks the ball back with 10:43 to go, sadly, that series resulted in a failed fourth down conversion for Thomas. On the next drive, The Bulldogs ran down the clock as much as they could, finishing the six-minute drive with a touchdown to put the game away.
The Thomas defense and special teams forced 3 turnovers and a blocked field goal, and the defense held Union to only 95 yards of passing offense.
The Night Hawks look to turn their fortunes around next week as they begin conference play at home vs. No.1 and defending national champion Keiser Seahawks on Saturday, September 28th at 7:00PM.
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