ELITE SPECIAL TEAMS: Coach Rogers has focused on making his special teams unit elite and Dee Reddick’s huge punt return is the result.

THOMASVILLE — The Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets are now 7-0 and 2-0 in the region after yet another dominating victory. The 56-0 win is Central’s third shut out victory of the year and their second in a row. They have now outscored in-region opponents 108-0 in the last two weeks. Once again the offense, defense, and special teams came together for the Yellow Jackets culminating in an unbeatable team.

The Jackets success started early as Malachi Thomas caused a fumble on the opening kickoff, which was recovered by Central’s Jamarion Fye. Two plays later Trey Brenton ran it in for his first touchdown of the night. TCC’s offense was very run heavy in the first half. They had 20 rushing attempts as opposed to seven passing attempts and they went to Brenton early and often. Brenton had a career performance in the first quarter alone. He scored on a 26 yard run and caught a 17 yard pass for a touchdown. With 3:25 left in the first quarter, Brenton had three touchdowns. He went on to have an excellent night with ten carries for 103 yards and two touchdowns. He also had a pair of receptions that went for 25 yards and a touchdown.

The Yellow Jackets defense reigned supreme over Tift County as well. The Blue Devils didn’t record a first down until 3:06 left in the opening quarter and the Tift punter was a busy man all night.

“The biggest thing is I’m just so proud of the start,” said Central head coach Justin Rogers. “I thought we started well and the opening kick off fumble was huge. I’m just glad that we came out and played really well on offense, defense, and special teams from the jump. That’s what you want to do in these types of game.”

The Tift defense found limited success in the second quarter, making a goal line stand and forcing a fourth down decision on Central. But, ruthless as they are, Central went for it on fourth and goal and quarterback Jaylen Johnson punched it in on a keeper.

Special teams then stepped up again, blocking a punt that put the Jackets just 31 yards out from the end zone. On the very next play Johnson found senior Haden Korobeynikov who took the ball to the goal line. Ahmad Ponder finished the drive off with a one yard rushing TD and Dee Reddick followed that up with a punt return for a touchdown. The Yellow Jackets took a 42-0 halftime lead into the locker room with 21 points scored in quarters one and two.

Johnson didn’t play for very long in the second half, but made good use of the time he had. On the opening play of the half, Johnson found Thomas for the touchdown. Thomas was the Jackets leading receiver in the game as he finished with three receptions for 58 yards and two touchdowns.

The defense continued to be disruptive, getting into the backfield at will and punishing any ball carrier. Giving credit where credit is due, Tift County has a very tough quarterback as he got right back up every time he was hit.

In the wake of the Jackets dominating play, Johnson exited the game in the third quarter. He finished a perfect 8-8 for 121 yards in the air and two passing touchdowns. He also recorded a single rushing touchdown. Back up QB Kris Wilhelm took over and played well. He completed three of his four passes for 42 yards and found freshman Kobe Carnage in the end zone for a touchdown.

As the horn sounded the Yellow Jackets stamped another victory in the record books. A 56-0 shut out of Tift County, Central has yet to taste defeat this season as they are 7-0.

“There’s no doubt you put together a complete team, but the key to that is player buy in,” Rogers said about why this Central team is so good. “You’ve got your best players playing special teams and buying into it. We are slowly becoming player driven and it’s their team.”

Central will now face arguably their toughest opponent yet in Houston County. The Bears are currently 6-1 and coming off a region win over Northside, 42-14. Houston’s only defeat came at the hands of Lee County, who are also 6-1 and second in the region, two weeks ago. That game will take place in Houston County on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.