THOMASVILLE — Bill Wilhelm and Tommy Flowers started it. Cliff Heard and Mike Singletary despise it. Thomas County Central's scout team loves it.

It is the unofficial fight song of the Yellow Jackets’ scout team.

“It’s just something that coach Wilhelm came up with to give them a little bit of fun,” Central coach Bill Shaver said. “Playing scout team is not the most fun thing in the world because you are getting your head hammered a lot of times.”

The song is prompted when the scout-team offense successfully runs a play when matched against the first-team defense. What qualifies as successful? If the offense breaks through the defensive line and linebackers, Wilhelm, the offensive line coach, who assists the scout team, blows his whistle to spark the singing. It could occur sporadically or quite often.

“There have been days where we’ve sung it three or four plays in a row,” Wilhelm said. “That’s one of those days where coach Heard is screaming and coach Singletary’s face is turning red. Then they start chewing on the defense because they’re not playing up to snuff. They get upset sometimes.”

Defensive coordinator Cliff Heard added, “It just aggravates us. We’re trying to figure out how to get better on defense and they make a big play. I know they take a lot of pride in making a big play on us and scoring. But when they get over there and start dancing and singing their little song, it just really makes us mad. It’s aggravating. You’ve got to have some way to get fun out of it. If it makes them block us a little better and run a little harder so they can sing a song, so be it.”

According to Wilhelm, the fight song was started around the 1993-94 seasons. It was composed to give the scout team members something to look forward to when running the opposition’s plays.

“We threw our players in the fire early, as ninth graders, a lot of them,” said Flowers, who helped start the singing tradition when he was an assistant with the Yellow Jackets in the mid-1990s. “They had to pay their dues. They took a lot of pride in it.”

Some members take more pride in the song than others.

“Matt Dukes played offensive line for us several years ago and he used to do a little dance,” Wilhelm said. “He would throw his fingers out and do a little circle while he was singing it. I can remember him doing it.”

The fight song also relieves some of the stress that occurs when constantly playing against first-team standouts Ray Drew, Caleb Heard and Chris Shiver every week.

“We always make sure we tell them, Joe Burns, Leonard Guyton, Erik Walden, all those guys you know, if they starred at Central, they all started out that same way,” said Shaver, recalling past great Central players. “It’s kind of like having to pay the dues a little bit. Those who go through there and learn and try to get better from it are the ones that are going to end up being good players for you one day.”

Wilhelm added, “I know where they’re coming from because when I went to Valdosta State I played scout team for two years before I ever got to grace the field in a starting role,” Wilhelm said. “That’s what kind of led to us to come up with a song, to have something to cheer about for making a good play and giving a good look.”

For evidence of a scout team member ascending quickly to the varsity level, look no further than freshman Jamal McNeil. He started this season on the scout team but was thrust into an important role on the defensive line due to injuries. He’s not the only one benefitting from having paid his dues.

“... The best scout team person we had last year was Eric Dodson,” said Shaver, referring to his starting junior quarterback. “Because he did so well on the scout team, that kind of prepared him to win the quarterback battle. He was there last year and gave our defense the best look they could have. That prepared him to be the quarterback this year. We’ve got some guys doing the same thing this year, both offensively and defensively.

“Naturally, the better look they’re going to give us, the better prepared we’re going to be on Friday night. We’ve got some guys giving us some good looks in there.”

The scout team offense has proven to be an invaluable part of the Yellow Jackets’ run in the Class AAAA playoffs. Entering tonight’s second-round game with Richmond Academy, Central’s defense is allowing an average of just eight points per game.

“Sometimes (the scout team) helps (the defense) adjust their scheme, because if we keep scoring on a specific set of plays, then they have to look at a different way to block it,” Wilhelm said. “Rarely do we have anybody as competitive as what we’re going up against. If our scout team can score on our defense, then we know who we’re playing on Friday night is going to score.”