THOMASVILLE — The Thomasville Bulldogs may be 0-2 and face one of the perennial powers in Class 7-A Friday night but coach Zach Grage is embracing the opportunity. He’s hoping his team shares the same mindset.

“Are we one of those that you just want to mail it in, we’re 0-2, woe is me and lets make it worse or are we going to try to get better?” Grage said. “If we can do it against these guys, then we can do it against anybody. It’s a great opportunity. Coach (Justin) Rogers has done an awesome job. 

“Of course, we’d much rather be going into it 2-0, we’d much rather be 15-0 as the season goes on. If you start looking at what the goals were going into the season, region championship, host playoff games, but like I told the coaches, we can’t go 0-6 and expect to have any success in the region. We’ve got to get that mindset back to get the kids thinking they can do it.”

Two disappointing showings against Cairo and Thomas County Central — Thomasville’s two arch rivals — have the Bulldogs 0-2 and outscored  76-38. After a bye week, the Packers enter their home opener 1-0 after a 17-6 victory over North Gwinnett.

“They’ve got the experience in the right places. The quarterback, that’s a big deal to have your quarterback return. You’ve got possibly one of the best running backs in the state with Daijun (Edwards),” Grage said. “The cupboard is definitely not bare by any means. Combine that with the job that Justin (Rogers) does, his level of character and what he expects of the kids, it’s one of those where you’re not going to have a falloff there for a long time. They’ve got really good players, really good fan base, good administration; usually chalks it up to a pretty good opportunity for success.

“Their skilled guys are probably one of the best groups they’ve had in a long time.”

This is the first year for Rogers as head coach of the Packers. He replaced Rush Propst, who was fired in March.

The two teams played last year with the Packers winning 50-3.