Thomas Dale was the 28-24 winner over Hopewell when they last played one another back in October of 2023, but their luck changed this time around. The Thomas Dale Knights fell 21-14 to the Hopewell Blue Devils on Friday. Despite 64 more yards than the Blue Devils, the Knights couldn't convert that extra yardage to scores.
Despite the loss, Thomas Dale still got an impressive performance from Jaiden Hite, who rushed for 183 yards and a touchdown while picking up 9.6 yards per carry. Hite's longest rush was for an incredible 90 yards.
Even though they lost, Thomas Dale was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 339 rushing yards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 70.8 rushing yards per game earlier this season, but in their last five matches they've averaged 183.8.
Even if they lost, Thomas Dale's defense still kept up the pressure with four sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Jonah Harris and Azavion Brown, who racked up all four sacks between them. Brown also set a new season high mark in total tackles with nine.
A big part of Hopewell's victory came down to the chemistry between Teriq Drew and his top target Shaheed Whitfield. Drew threw for 183 yards and three touchdowns while completing 81.8% of his passes while Whitfield picked up 106 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Thomas Dale's record now sits at 5-4. As for Hopewell, they now also have a winning record of 5-4.
Thomas Dale didn't take long to hit the field again: they've already played their next contest, a 21-6 win against Petersburg on the 7th. As for Hopewell, they are taking a road trip to take on Prince George at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
