Randy Young
By Randy Young
Special to the Times-Enterprise
BAINBRIDGE — Again led by their defense, the Region 1-AAAA champion Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets finished a remarkable run through their region schedule by defeating the Ed Pilcher-coached Bainbridge Bearcats 13-3 at Centennial Field.
The win gave Central a perfect 8-0 region record and extended its overall winning streak to nine games.
“I’m just as proud as I can be of this football team and these coaches,” Yellow Jackets head football coach Bill Shaver said after the game, his second straight victory over his former mentor. “When you look at how far they’ve come since the beginning of the season, it’s just really something to see. But I am glad this game is over.”
With leading rusher Curtis Brooks in street clothes on the sidelines due to a nagging deep thigh bruise, Central’s offense could only muster six points in the first half. The points came off of two booming Griffin Bell field goals from 34 and 37 yards.
“We weren’t exactly playing with a pile of emotion,” Shaver added. “That’s one of the things we were worried about coming into this game. And, you know, it’s hard to play someone who knows what you’re doing as well as (former Central) coach Pilcher knows us.”
But as much as the Yellow Jacket offense struggled, the blue-and-gold stop troops were as impressive. After a good return of the opening kickoff into Central territory, the Jackets defense forced a field goal attempt that sailed wide left.
The half would end with the Central defense shutting the Bearcats veer out while forcing two key turnovers.
Early in the third quarter, it was the Bearcats defense forcing a fumble as Central quarterback Eric Dodson was separated from the ball at his own 47. Five plays later, Bainbridge’s Keenan Adams nailed a 44-yard field goal to cut the lead to 6-3.
However, Central’s offense closed the night’s scoring in the fourth quarter when Lavoyd Reddick took a Dodson pitch in from 13 yards out for the night’s only touchdown.
The Yellow Jackets defense clamped down on the Bearcats as ends Ray Drew and Caleb Heard repeatedly showed their speed in chasing down rushers from behind and hounding quarterback Rohan Gaines.
“What can you say about this defense? They seem to come up with the big plays at the right times, and tonight was no different,” Shaver said.
Dodson ended the night with 67 yards on the ground to lead the offense. He passed for 61 additional yards, 35 of which went to Julius Reese.
Several Central players were injured. Dodson injured his shoulder on the touchdown drive. Linebacker Jamal Choice re-aggravated a neck stinger, as did Toby Eaton, and Heard injured his elbow.
“We’ve have a couple of pretty physical football games,” Shaver added, alluding to last week’s contest against Westside as well as the Bainbridge game. “But now every week is a season by itself, and we’ll just have to get them ready to play next week.”
Shaver added that while he was glad to win, it was a bittersweet experience beating Pilcher.
“We still love coach Pilcher in Thomas County, and all we’ve done as a staff is try to continue the level of excellence he established for us. We haven’t forgotten what he did for us here, and even though I am glad we won, we still have all the respect in the world for him.”
Central will host Alcovy in the opening round of the state playoffs. Alcovy will enter the game with a 7-3 overall record, including a loss to top-ranked ranked Griffin to close the regular season.
“We need our fans to show up and give Alcovy a warm welcome to the Jackets’ Nest,” Shaver said. “We had more people here tonight than Bainbridge did, and they showed up ready to win — just like they did last week. I doubt Alcovy has seen an atmosphere like we’ve got at our place, and this team deserves to see those stands full and rocking.”
