File photoThe first road trip of the season for Malik Harper and the Thomasville High Bulldogs will be the short trek up Jackson Street to Thomas County Central.

THOMASVILLE — The Thomasville Bulldogs hope to accomplish a feat they’ve not been able to do in 27 years when they travel up Jackson Street to the Jackets Nest Friday night. With a win over Thomas County Central, the Bulldogs will notch their third straight win over their cross-county rivals. 

That hasn’t happened since 1991-92.

But in order to make history, the Bulldogs will need improved play than what they showed in their season-opening defeat to the Cairo Syrupmakers last week. Strengthened by a 28-point third quarter and 35 points in the span of 11 minutes, 38 seconds, the Syrupmakers rolled past the Bulldogs 45-21.

Thomasville head coach Zach Grage put the responsibility on his coaching staff this week to put the players in a position where they’ll be successful. It appears changes might be in store come Friday night.

“I don’t want to hear, ‘This kid can’t do this,’ because there’s a reason these kids are on the field. We’ve got to put together the puzzle pieces,” Grage said. “You’re going to see a little different personnel, especially on the defensive side of the ball. It’s going to be a similar 11 to 18 guys that play. They’re still going to play, they’re just going to be in different spots and be asked to do different things. Instead of (a coach) telling me, ‘This player can’t read the guard because he’s looking in the backfield,’ lets put him in a place where he can read the backfield and be OK.”

Though Thomasville dropped one rivalry game, it can score a major victory with another win over Central. Along with the Bulldogs’ current winning streak over the Yellow Jackets, they’ve also moved ahead in the series history, leading 26-25.

However, Central is in its second season under head coach Ashley Henderson. The team has made strides on offense, as evidence by its 45-20 win over Early County last week. Grage sees a parallel to to the progress his Bulldogs made in his second year.

“It’s the same place we were when we were going into our second year,” Grage said. “That was the year we went 12-1. They’re in a similar situation. They’ve got a good senior class, good junior class. You can tell they’re much more polished in the things they do. It’s the second year in their program. They’re playing with a little more confidence. They go over and whip Early pretty good. It’s just like last year — excitement is going to be through the roof.”

And even though the start of Region 1-AA is not for another month and a half (Brooks County, Oct. 11), Grage is treating this game like a region contest.

“This isn’t one of those where we can treat it as a tuneup because if we don’t get this one, we may not make it to Brooks County,” Grage said.