Clint Thompson
CNHI
THOMASVILLE —
Thomas County Central hasn’t forgotten.
Almost a year later, thoughts of last season’s preseason 31-0 drubbing to Lowndes has the Yellow Jackets motivated.
Central was held to just 54 total yards, seven punts and no points.
The teams will duel again Friday at Martin Stadium in their annual preseason scrimmage.
“It’s one where they should have a bitter taste in their mouth from last year,” Central coach Bill Shaver said.
Kickoff is set for 8 p.m.
Heading into the season last year, the Yellow Jackets were starting a new backfield led by junior quarterback Eric Dodson. Central responded from that preseason loss and a season-opening defeat to Thomasville with an 11-game winning streak.
This year, the Yellow Jackets return eight starters on offense and are hoping to be a lot more competitive against the Vikings.
“We know (Lowndes has) got a few more practices under their belt than we do because they had a chance to do camp last week,” Shaver said. “We just want to make sure we go in there and give a good showing.”
The teams will play their varsity squads the first three quarters before the junior varsity play the final period. Among the positions Shaver and his coaching staff will be focusing intently on is in the secondary with Eric McCraw and Eric Hollis, and in the kicking game with freshman Gavin Wilson.
“I’m just hoping we can make some strides and do some positive things and, obviously, keep people injury free, too,” Shaver said. “Some of our positions, with the depth being young and inexperienced, you hope you come out of it with all your starters intact. But when you play this kind of game, you know it’s going to happen sometimes. We just hope for the best. We’re going to play them hard. They’ll play hard. I think that’s why coach (Randy) McPherson likes to play us because he knows we’re going to play good, hard-nosed football, the same way they do.”
