THOMASVILLE – Last week Thomas County Central made a statement on the gridiron when they beat rival Thomasville 48-10. They are a third quarter team and they can run like nobody’s business. The Yellow Jackets matched their first half total, putting up 24 points in the third quarter and completely shutting down the Bulldogs usually explosive offense. On top of that, they out rushed the Bulldogs 357-22.
Now, while the Bulldogs take a rest on their bye week, the Jackets will look to their last rivalry game before they hit region play as they face Bainbridge. It’s not a secret that the Bearcats have struggled this year. A new coach and a young team isn’t exactly a recipe for a successful season.
Bainbridge travels down to Yellow Jacket territory sitting at 0-4. However, that could easily be 2-2 as they lost by three to Cook and Tift County. The Bearcats haven’t really done anything exceedingly well this season. They rushed for negative yards against Ware County and haven’t thrown over 100 yards in their four games played.
However, their last game against Tift was their best, despite the loss. Senior quarterback Camryn Scott went 10-17 with 97 yards passing, though he did throw a pick, and the Bearcats rushers combined for 108 yards and two touchdowns.
“You have to be careful looking at Bainbridge,” said Central head coach Justin Rogers. “A lot of the time they do have a slow start to the season and they figure it out and become a really good football team. So, you just have to make sure that you’re not the team they figure it out about.”
With that being said, Thomas County Central shouldn’t have a problem with the Bearcats. They racked up 475 yards of total offense, had four tackles for a loss and had five different players score against Thomasville, one of the top ranked teams in 1A D1. They’ve outscored their opponents 209-59 and have out rushed their last three opponents 931-306. The Yellow Jackets should be able to handle Bainbridge, who doesn’t crack the top 17 in 3A.
Central will be looking for “continual improvement” in their last warm up game before they enter was Rogers called “one of the hardest regions in the nation”.
“I think every game you’ve seen us be more consistent with our play,” said Rogers. “We know we’ve got a lot of improvement still to make.”
The Yellow Jackets will host the Bainbridge Bearcats at home on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.