In July, we found out that Lake Gibson QB Kevaris Thomas could lead his team. He led the team to a 9 Route 7-on-7 championship, and right now, his Braves may be on the verge of winning a state championship. Thomas is helping the Braves conduct a historic season, in which they achieved their first perfect regular season since 2012.

There’s been a lot of firsts at Lake Gibson this year: first season that Thomas is the starting quarterback, first season in 13 that someone named Keith DeMyer wasn’t the head coach, the first year that his son, Doug DeMyer coached, and it’s Doug DeMyer’s first district championship as head coach.

Thomas’ first season has been one to remember: he’s the first Lake Gibson starting quarterback to throw for 1,000-plus yards since 2014. Thomas has 1,211 through ten games, with one more for certain to go.
After the 9 Route Championship, Thomas told BCP, “Next year, I honestly see us possibly winning a state championship. We’ve been putting in a lot of work since the quick exit in last year’s playoffs, and our goal is to be better than all of the other classes that have gone through the halls at Lake Gibson.” That prophecy seems to be coming true.

Lake Gibson hosts Armwood on Friday night to travel the Hawks, who are trying to defend their spot in the Class 6A title game. Without Miami Central in the mix, the winner of this game could very well become a state champion.

Let’s go back to that 9 Route tournament. Lake Gibson upset Armwood 20-13 in their road to their first win in the short history of 9 Route. Thomas, and the rest of the team has that win in their heads as they approach that game. “We haven’t really spoke on it a lot, but we know that if we can beat them on a 7-on-7, who’s to say that we can’t beat them with four extra guys on the field,” Thomas said.

In a year of firsts for the Braves, it’s pretty astounding to see a team with a first-year head coach and a first-year starting quarterback have a perfect season and be as favored as they are do go deep in the playoffs, but this has been a special season for Lake Gibson. A loss in the Kickoff Classic against Lakeland had some fans worried, as the ‘Naughts shut them out, but it seems that the better DeMyer’s relationship with Thomas has been, the better the team as a whole has been.

“Coach and I have had our many ups and downs, but now he’s pretty much a father to me. He’ll make me stay after practice pretty often, to work on reads and to get extra practice in. Coach has told me that he loves the way that I play my position, and he believes that I can become one of the best quarterbacks to come out of the school,” Thomas said.

But it’s not just about football for Thomas, as important as it is to him. Thomas is all about his family, and he’s especially thankful for three people that have had a very positive, and important impact on his life.

“I’m especially thankful for my father, my uncle, and my grandmother. They’ve always been there for me. My mother, she tried her hardest, but my grandmother has served as an amazing mother to me. My dad has really pushed me to go work out, to go get my receivers so that we can work on routes together, to go out and run the track, and my uncle has done the same thing. They’ve helped me so much. Also, I’m really thankful for all of the teachers and my coaches at Lake Gibson. They’ve always been there for me and have helped me with everything I need.”

As a whole, Thomas attributes the incredible year not to his abilities, but to the whole team. “We’ve had a real big difference in the locker room from last year. A lot of people were playing only for themselves, they were being selfish, they were ready to go to college, but now, everybody is playing as a team. It started out rough, but as the season went on, we got really close. We knew we had a chance to be good, and the season has been even better than we expected,” Thomas said.