THOMASVILLE — For Thomasville football, it’s time to take care of business.

The Region 1-2A champion Bulldogs will open the playoffs at Veterans Memorial Stadium tonight, looking to get to the second round for the first time since 2013 against visiting Jeff Davis.

Last week, Thomasville pulled out a comeback victory over Fitzgerald to claim the program’s first 10-0 regular season record since 1988. Being undefeated going into the postseason is something that still hasn’t totally settled in yet.

“I don’t know if it’s hit them, what 10-0 means,” Thomasville coach Zach Grage said. “I think it’s been so long since we’ve lost, they still forget that feeling. You’ve still gotta hang that over their heads a little bit, but still make them understand that what they’ve done is very special.”

The Bulldogs’ last loss came exactly one year ago today, in the first round of the playoffs against Dodge County. Grage was disappointed by his team’s performance that night, but also sees that this year’s team has grown up.

“I think right now our mindset is a lot different,” he said. “Last year we had the success at the end of the season, we went 4-1. Against Dodge we had four turnovers. Our defense played well enough to win, offensively we did not. I think this year, you look at the guys we’ve relied on all year and you can just tell the mindset’s a lot different.”

While the Bulldogs have been working towards tonight all year, the visiting Yellow Jackets are just happy to be here. Jeff Davis’ appearance in the state playoffs is its first since 2001.

“To me the season’s just about the process,” Jeff Davis coach Lance Helton said. “It’s about giving these kids the atmosphere they deserve and the season these seniors deserve. They’ve been through a lot here in four years, including three head football coaches.”

Jeff Davis’ playoff berth did not come easy. It ended the regular season tied with Swainsboro and Bacon County for Region 2-2A’s fourth playoff spot. As a result, all three teams participated in mini-playoff games with two five-minute halves on Monday. Swainsboro defeated Bacon in the first game and moved on to play the Yellow Jackets to decide the No. 4 seed.

Jeff Davis struck first with a touchdown and a two point conversion for a 8-0 lead at halftime, but Swainsboro answered with its own touchdown with under a minute left in the deciding game. The Tigers needed a conversion to tie, but the Yellow Jackets delivered by forcing an incompletion to end their long playoff drought.

“That was the longest minute and 30 seconds of my life,” Helton said. “At some point in the season, in order to get into the playoffs, somebody has to make a special play. The great thing to see was that our kids had the confidence to go make that play at the end of the game.”

The Yellow Jackets run a Wing-T offense that’s rushing heavy. Their main goal will be to keep Thomasville’s explosive offense off the field for as long as they can.

“They’re gonna run the ball 99 percent of the time,” Grage said. “We’ve got to create turnovers — that’s the biggest thing. We’ve got to get the ball back to the offense as soon as possible. In my book, a three-and-out is a turnover as well.”

Two players that the Bulldogs will be looking out for are Alex Sanders and Jaylene Kirby. Both are seniors that play running back, but will also have time on defense. They aren’t the only players that Jeff Davis has playing both ways, which is a perceived advantage for Thomasville with the depth it has.

The Bulldogs are also anticipating the Yellow Jackets taking a lot of chances with onside kicks, fourth down tries and two-point conversion attempts.

Thomasville has been on the winning end of two straight comeback victories in the last two weeks. While Grage is a fan of those moments, he admits that it would be good to jump ahead and wrap everything up early.

“They’ve bought into the idea that we’re a good second half team, but it would be nice to take care of business from the first snap,” he said. “That’s what we’ve preached all week, that full-game mentality, that full-game focus.

“We are good. We should come out here and take care of business and I expect nothing less out of us.”