THOMASVILLE — Thomas County Central and Cairo have an extra reason to be thankful this year.

So, too, do their opponents.

All four are three wins away from a state title.

“One of our goals is always, we want to practice (today),” Central coach Bill Shaver said. “We talked (Friday night) how exciting it is to practice (today) because you get out there that morning and practice and go home and have your Thanksgiving meal with the family and sit around and watch a little bit of football. It’s exciting.”

A return trip to the third round of the playoffs is nothing new for the Yellow Jackets.

This is the third time in the last four years Central has advanced this far in postseason play. Maybe the most improbable visit has been this year. The Yellow Jackets entered this year with only one returning starter in the backfield, a new quarterback and a revamped offensive line. Following a preseason defeat to Lowndes and a season-opening loss to Thomasville — the Bulldogs’ first win in the series in nine years — Central has responded with 11 straight wins. Being thankful goes without question for the Yellow Jackets.

“That’s kind of a tradition we do around our household when our families get together. We sit around the living room and we go around and tell what we’re thankful for. I’ll have an easy thing to say this year,” Shaver said.

Central’s opponent Friday night, Sandy Creek, is feeling just as blessed. The Fighting Patriots are in the third round for the first time in school history.

“We don’t mind straying from the norm this week,” Sandy Creek coach Chip Walker said. “Anytime you get to play at this point in time, it’s a good thing.

“We can practice (today) and then load the buses up on Friday, We’ll be happy for that.”

Also happy is coach Bruce Miller and his Gainesville Red Elephants. Heading into Friday’s Class AAA playoff tilt with Cairo, the Red Elephants are 12-0 for the second straight year. Carver-Columbus eliminated Gainesville in the third round last season. Just being in this position again is enough to make Miller and his herd of Red Elephants thankful.

“It’s kind of neat. We’re out of school all week,” Miller said. “For us, it’s kind of a week off to kind of work on football.

“We’ve been blessed so much this year.”

The most improbable playoff team of the three may be the Syrupmakers. Cairo lost almost 30 seniors and 19 starters from last year’s championship team. Riding a six-game winning streak, Cairo is back in the third round for the third straight year. .

“Our toughest job last year as coaches — when we lost that state championship (the year before) and were 13-2 and we had everything coming back — was getting those kids to the starting position,” Fallaw said. “We knew that if we could get everyone of those kids back to the starting position, then the season would kind of take care of itself.

“This year, it was learning the kids’ names. We joke about that. Every kid on that board wasn’t in our two-deep (rotation last year).

“You’ve got to give the coaches around here a lot of credit, and the kids deserve a lot of credit.”

Fallaw is embracing the change in his team’s practice this week.

“This kind of goes back to our philosophy on homecoming,” Fallaw said, “I never get upset about homecoming week because it’s just about kids being kids. We’re in the third round of the playoffs. This is about kids being kids. These kids are going to come to work every day right now. They know what’s at stake.”

For all four teams, it’s a berth in the state semifinals.