THOMASVILLE – The Thomasville Bulldogs experienced a day of firsts when they reconvened on Monday.

Aug. 8 marked the first day of school for Thomasville High. It was also the first time the Bulldogs started preparing for a game for the upcoming Friday night.

First-year coach Jonathan DeLay discussed the excitement among his players ahead of Friday night’s preseason scrimmage at Valdosta.

“Last week and the day before we took a day each week to do what we call a scout team practice so that when we got to (this week’s) practice, we’d have an idea of what we’re trying to accomplish as far as who scouts and how that’s organized,” DeLay said. “We had a good fall camp last week. We practiced a couple of days and went twice a day, and the other days we went once a day. We were able to go in the mornings and stay out of the rain and out of the heat.

“I’m pleased with where we’re at and looking forward to now going into the season that when we practice, as we’re practicing against our scout team, we’ll be able to have all of those guys that are going to play together on a Friday night together. We’re still cross training, but when you scout team practice, those guys can practice together.”

Friday night is the Bulldogs’ final tuneup before their regular season opener at Brooks County on Friday, Aug. 19. DeLay wants to see his players excel at the fundamentals against the Wildcats.

“Our running to the football, tackling, blocking, ball security, those things are huge, because all of the other stuff, the scheme stuff, is based off can you do fundamentals well. That’s the big thing I’m going to be looking at,” DeLay noted. “At the end of the day it’s just football. Line up, block, tackle, take the football, keep it and get it across the goal line. That’s the main thing I’m looking for this week is our fundamentals and how fast can we play.”