A Thomas County Central player tackles a Lee County player last week.

THOMASVILLE — Thomas County Central and Valdosta’s football teams currently find themselves in very similar positions.

Both have been hit with injuries and are struggling on the offensive side of the ball, and both will face off tonight at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium looking for some South Georgia bragging rights.

Valdosta (1-4), the defending Class 6A state champion, secured a 56-39 win against the Yellow Jackets (2-3) in Thomasville last year during Alan Rodemaker’s first season as its head coach. Central coach Bill Shaver actually has a long history with the Wildcats’ head man.

“He’s one of my boys,” Shaver said. “I played at Presbyterian and went back to coach. When I went back to coach, coach Rodemaker was a freshman. I was the track coach, so he ran track for me, too. He was a prominent member of my study hall, too. We go a long way back.

“He works really hard. He did a great job putting Valdosta back on the map last year, going and getting that state championship they haven’t had in a while.”

The Wildcats haven’t begun their title defense in the way they have hoped. Last week, they were shut out 27-0 by Colquitt County, and were blanked by crosstown rival Lowndes 45-0 earlier in the season. Part of the reason for those struggles has been an injury to its Week 1 starting quarterback, Hunter Holt.

“They’ve played some good teams,” Shaver said. “Their offense has struggled very similar to ours — struggling to get first downs, struggling to score. So we’ve got two offenses that are struggling bad.”

Those struggles might be something the Yellow Jackets can take advantage of — if they can get their own offense moving. Last week against Lee County, Central could did not cross the first down marker in the first half, and the offense gained just 48 yards of total offense before halftime.

It will be the same core starting on that side of the ball again this week: Freshman quarterback Kalique Guyton, freshman running back Dondell Green and sophomore running back Dashon Lewis, all behind a young offensive line. Imond Hobbs, the Jackets’ leading rusher, has been limited in practice with a groin strain. His status for tonight will be a game-time decision.

Central is weighing all its options at quarterback, with Guyton, Deondre Sullivan and Dominic Scott all getting first-team reps in practice this week.

The Yellow Jackets will need any spark they can get against a stacked Valdosta defense — a unit that hasn’t missed a beat. Division I prospect Zakoby McClain and West Virginia commit Jayce Rogers are just two key players on that unit. The Wildcats only allowed one offensive touchdown against Colquitt last week.

“They are playing really, really good defense like coach Rodemaker’s teams always do,” Shaver said. “They’ve been put in bad situations because their offense has not done a good job. It’ll be another challenge for our young offense.

“Hopefully we can get some small gains in there and hopefully our offense can get some first downs, move the ball and keep our defense off the field.”