THOMASVILLE — Three road games stand in the way of a perfect Region 1-AAAA season and championship for the Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets. The path towards the school’s first region title since takes the Yellow Jackets to Cairo on Friday night where the two rivals resume their rivalry.

Central coach Ashley Henderson understands the significance of what the next three weeks represent. But it’s a one-week-at-a-time approach for his team, especially since the recent edge the Syrupmakers have had over the Yellow Jackets. Cairo has Central’s full attention.

“You can’t win all three of them this week. You can only win one of them,” Henderson said. “All of our attention is only on Cairo, which it should be. Our guys know the challenge, and our seniors have never beaten Cairo, whether it’s a scrimmage or whatever. They’ve never beat them. They know the challenge. It’s a rivalry game for us; a rivalry game that’s also a region game. It’s a big one, that’s for sure.”

Central has not defeated Cairo since 2016, though the teams did not play in 2018 and 2019.

The Yellow Jackets’ most notable win during their current five-game winning streak occurred away from the Jackets’ Nest. Central won at Callaway, the defending Class AA champions, 24-8. The Yellow Jackets have found success away from home.

“It’s not foreign to us, going on the road and doing our thing,” Henderson said. “You try to get your guys in a set routine the best you can on the road. Kids are creatures of habit, get them used to doing what they do on Sunday through Thursday, and Friday you keep it similar whether you’re home or away. 

“Kids go execute that plan, and you’ve got a chance.”

Central is coming off its second bye week of the season. Henderson liked the extra week of preparation for the Syrupmakers.

“We had a good week. We worked on us a whole bunch. We got a lot of Central vs. Central stuff, one on one, two on twos with the rest of our young guys,” Henderson said. “It was a good week.”