THOMASVILLE — It’s gut-check time for the Thomasville Bulldogs.
A six-game winning streak had the Bulldogs playing for the Region 1-AA championship. A 49-14 rout at the hands of Fitzgerald, though, has reduced the Bulldogs to a No. 2 seed in Friday night’s playoff opener against Henry County.
“I hope that hurt hasn’t gone away,” Thomasville coach Richie Marsh said. “I hope the hurt is still on the bottom of our hearts. I hope that’s a big reminder. The only way that loss can do anything for us in the playoffs is to remind us that we need to stay focused and we need to remember the pain of losing a game like that.”
It was a game in which everything that could go wrong went wrong. Thomasville surrendered 443 yards, was flagged 10 times and accumulated just four first downs with its run-oriented offense.
“I don’t even know if they make a word for (last Friday’s game),” Marsh said. “It was humbling and embarrassing in the same breath. I was just proud that our kids continued to want to play. It’s so easy for us in that kind of game to run the ball every play to try to run the clock down so we could get out of that and go home. Our kids didn’t want to do that. We wanted to keep fighting and throwing the ball and did whatever we could do to try to make a comeback.”
The margin of defeat was Thomasville’s biggest in 14 years and worst in Marsh’s five years as Thomasville's coach.
Rebounding from such a defeat is not improbable. The Bulldogs only have to look back a year ago to see that it’s been done.
“As far as (the team) coming back, I think they understand that we’ve always talked about the season being the preseason and the real season starts when the playoffs get here,” Marsh said. “I think they’ve bought into that and understand that. I think the teams that understand that can do well in the playoffs. For instance, Fitzgerald last year, after losing to us in game 10, they’re playing in the semifinals.”
To many, the timing of Thomasville’s 35-point loss may not seem ideal with the playoffs starting a week later. Just don’t include Marsh among them.
“I’m glad that (the regular) season’s over with and the new season begins,” Marsh said. “I don’t know if I'd want to have a couple of more games to go after that before the playoffs get here. I think this hit at the right time, for us to be hurt and humble and to come back and to get better this week.”
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