Thomas in a Rush for Fulton (KNS Article):
Dametrius Thomas rushed for a career-high 221 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead Fulton High School to a 22-7 homecoming victory over Pigeon Forge on Friday night.
The bulk of his yards and 19 carries came in the third quarter. At the 10:43 mark, the senior scored on a 25-yard play, following a failed onside kick attempt by the Tigers.
A three-and-out by Pigeon Forge (1-3, 0-1 District 3-AA) and one offensive play later for the Falcon, Thomas took off for 74 yards and his second score of the quarter and a 22-0 lead.
"Fulton's got a lot of speed and quickness," said Tigers coach Lee Hammonds. "We worked tremendously hard on that this week."
Though the second half belonged to Thomas, neither team seemed to get a handle of the first.
The only score of the half came on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Ben Winters to Brandon Taylor. The two-point conversion attempt failed.
Fulton's defense held the Tigers to just 63 yards of total offense in the first half.
Following a fake punt, running back Chase Travis took off on a 30-yard touchdown.
Travis finished with just 48 yards on 13 carries.
"He (Travis) is a good running back for us," added Hammonds, "he's getting back to his old form."
The Falcons (2-3, 1-0) struggled with penalties and turnovers.
Winters threw two interceptions and running back Javonte Cotner lost a fumble before reaching the end zone.
The Falcons had 11 penalties, six of which were holding calls. Runs of 54 and 49 by Thomas were negated because of the illegal contact.
If the yards would have counted, Thomas would've been just two yards behind the school record set by Jeff Mitchell, who gained 326 yards in 2001 against Anderson County.
"We didn't play real smart tonight," said Falcons coach Buck Coatney, "we got to quit the mistakes, the penalties and the turnovers."
