Clint Thompson
CNHI
THOMASVILLE —
The rushing yards are adding up for the Thomasville Bulldogs — so are the fumbles.
Through two games, the Bulldogs have churned out 472 yards on the ground. That has been overshadowed, though, by 13 fumbles.
It’s those miscues that have the Bulldogs 1-1 and the coaching staff concerned heading into Friday night’s clash with Pelham.
“It’s something we’ve got to get through, something we’ve got to correct,” Thomasville head coach Richie Marsh said. “It’s just a mindset and understanding the importance of protecting the football, because it’s happening all over the place.”
Thomasville co-offensive coordinator Matt VerSluis added, “Thirteen fumbles and we’ve lost nine, you can’t win ballgames with that, and that’s obvious. We’ve got to do a better job as coaches at coaching that up.”
Thomasville fumbled eight times in last week’s loss to Thomas County Central, losing four. That followed a five-fumble performance against Lovett in the season opener. The fumbles have come in a variety of ways; bad snaps, bad pitches and players getting stripped of the ball.
“We’ve got to do a better job at making ourselves accountable so we can make the kids accountable,” VerSluis said. “The old saying goes, ‘When you lose it’s the coach’s fault, when you win, it’s the kids.’ We lost so it’s our fault. We’ve got to do a better job at coaching those little things, making sure that the ball stays high and tight and do the right things so we can hold on to it.
“We had 52 offensive plays (the other night) and we lost the ball four times. The biggest enemy we’re playing right now is Thomasville. Not to take anything away from anybody, but if we don’t lose the ball, we don’t kill ourselves. That’s plain and simple.”
With Thomasville struggling holding onto the ball, have the Bulldogs put more of an emphasis on ball protection this week? Not exactly, according to VerSluis.
“It’s always an emphasis. We’ve just got to make sure it becomes a priority,” VerSluis added.
“A lot of things are an emphasis but the priority has got to be ball security.”
