Thomas took a little hop and flicked the ball over a Lakeway defender to Hobson camped in the end zone. The touchdown with just over two minutes left in the third quarter acted as the dagger.
Grace Christian journeyed to White Pine and came away with a 31-13 win over Lakeway, staying in the hunt for the No. 1 seed in the DII-AA East Region.
With CAK’s loss at Boyd-Buchanan on Friday, Grace (8-1, 6-1 Division II-AA) is now tied with the Warriors for first place in the region standings. CAK (8-1, 6-1) plays host to Lakeway (7-2, 4-2) in Week 11 next week while Grace plays at Notre Dame (4-5). If CAK loses, and Grace wins, then Grace is the 1-seed. If both CAK and Grace win, CAK will be the 1-seed via its tiebreaker win over Grace from Oct. 15.
On Friday, the Grace Rams were out-gained 209-104 on the ground by Lakeway (7-2, 4-2), but Hobson threw for 145 yards and two touchdowns on 11-of-12 passing to lead the passing attack. GCA ran 17 fewer plays and gained 62 fewer yards overall on the night.
“Elite teams respond when they get knocked down,” Grace coach Justin Price said. “Just the way that our players responded, the way our coaching staff responded, is something that we want to build in our culture. Really excited about the way our kids came out and performed tonight.”
Thomas came up with a third-down interception that his brother, Javey Stinson, finished off with a 17-yard touchdown run one play later to get things moving in the right direction for Grace early.
Quarterback Hobson found Thomas for a 43-yard score to make it 14-0 Rams with 9:02 left in the second quarter.
“I just feel like we had a good week of practice,” Thomas said. “We just came out here and showed it.”
Lakeway got a touchdown from PK Hodari and the Rams got a field goal from Rafael Silva to make it a halftime score of 17-6.
The Lions opened the second half with 11 straight run plays. The plan was cut short when Jiden Butler fumbled, and Grace recovered.
The fumble turned into points for Grace when Thomas, out of a Wildcat set, found Hobson to make it 24-6 with 2:17 left in the third quarter.
Thomas is now 3-for-3 passing this season for 39 yards — and three touchdowns.
“I knew it was coming,” Hobson said. “So I just go out there and execute, get on the sideline, celebrate with my guys.”
Grace added another score on fourth-and-6 when Hobson threw a 29-yard strike to Kaden Webber with eight minutes left in the game to seal the win.
Price sensed the extra focus from his Rams in practice over the course of the week — coming off the heartbreaking loss to CAK that threw playoff seeding into question. Now he’s looking for his team to carry that focus each week.
“We’re going to play some good teams down the road, but at the end of the day, can our kids every week come back with this mindset of, ‘Hey, let’s learn and get better’” Price said. “Even when you win, even when you lose, what can we do to reach our potential?”
Article written by Caleb Jarreau/5Star Preps. To read more on area high school sports or to see photo galleries, videos, stat leaders, etc., visit 5StarPreps.com — and use promo code HAMMERS for 30% off your first year or month subscription.
Follow KnoxTNToday on Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn and TikTok.
Get all KnoxTNToday articles in one place with our free newsletter. Comments may be sent to news@knoxtntoday.com.
