A 6-foot, 185-pound native of Fayetteville, Ga., James hit a 43-yard field goal as time expired to force overtime at ILS, then converted a 33-yard attempt to give the Toppers the victory. He was 3-of-3 on field goals in the contest, adding a career-long 45-yarder to open the scoring, while also going 4-of-4 on extra-point conversions. The sophomore set a school record with his final point-after-touchdown, as he has converted 56 in a row.
James leads the Gateway Conference in scoring with 8.6 points per game, and is also tied for the league lead with 1.4 field goals per contest.
Thomas, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior from Louisville, Ky., made a career-high 15 stops against the Redbirds, including 12 solo stops. He forced a fumble on the second play of the game to lead to Western’s first points, and also ended an ILS drive in the third quarter with a solo tackle with the Toppers holding onto a seven-point advantage.
Thomas — one of 16 players on the Buchanan Battle watch list for the award given to the top defensive player in NCAA Division I-AA football — is second on the squad with 40 total stops, but is one of two players in the conference averaging double figures with 10 tackles per game.
The Hilltoppers (4-1, 2-0 GFC) play host to Missouri State Saturday at 4 p.m. (CDT) on Homecoming weekend. The Bears (3-2, 1-1 GFC) are coming off a three-point win over nationally ranked Northern Iowa.
