Military Transition Football Program Takes the Field!
Post Published On:At approximately 12:03 PM on Saturday, September 2nd, the Night Hawks made history when toe was put to leather, as Thomas kicked off the Nations’s only military transition football program.
For Thomas, the Night Hawks two-year quest to bring this program to life was realized. For Orlando Mitjans, a life long dream was achieved when he took the field for the first time as a collegiate head coach. For military veterans, National Guardsmen, Reservists and more than 20 civilian members of the roster, a once in a lifetime dream was achieved when they partook in this event.
The Night Hawks did not wait long to make their impact on the scoreboard. The Georgia Warhawks fumbled the opening kickoff return, and the Night Hawks recovered on the 1-yard line. Eight seconds into the ballgame, military veteran Chris Carter scored the first touchdown in program history on a one yard rush (PAT failed) to give Thomas a 6-0 lead.
After a three-and-out, Thomas added another touchdown when Tremal Hall rush for 14 yards and the score (Braxton Crawford – PAT) to increase the lead to 13-0.
Thomas added their third touchdown of the day early in the second quarter, as Carter connected with Hall, this time for 45 yards in the air (Crawford PAT) as the Night Hawks lead grew to 20-0.
Thomas came out focused on their running game in the second half. The result of the effort led to another touchdown on their second drive of the half, when Emarje Grace scampered 14-yards for the score (Crawford – PAT) and a 27-0 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Carter connected with Cameron Bailey for 30 yards for the Night Hawks final touchdown of the day (Crawford – PAT) an a margin of 34-0. A late touchdown by the Warhawks made the final score 34-6.
On the day, the Night Hawks had 22 first downs while giving up only 14. Thomas was 5 of 7 on third downs. Thomas ran the ball for an astonishing 333 yards, while giving up only 80 yards on the ground. The Night Hawks amassed 470 total yards of offense. Thomas turned the ball over four times and committed eight penalties.
Individually, QB Chris Cater was 5/9 for 128 yards passing and 2 touchdowns with 1 interception, while adding 6 rushes for 67 yards. Brandon Denmark rushed the ball 11 times for 81 yards. Tremal Hall led the team in receiving yards with 46 and Jarek Foster led the team with two receptions. Kaliq Jordan led the team with 6 tackles (3 solo), followed by Raheim McBride (3 solo) and Kanirion Jenkins (1 solo) with 5 tackles.
