THOMASVILLE – Thomasville is set for what they hope to be a long playoff run that begins on Friday night. The Bulldogs will host region foe Bacon County in a first-round match-up. 

“We feel great about where we are at, but at the end of the day it’s just about getting in to try to reach that ultimate goal which is to win game 15,” said head coach Jonathan DeLay. “Our mindset right now is we have five one-game seasons coming up and we have one right now, so everything we do is about being detail-oriented and focused on doing every little thing the right way this week so that we can go 1-0 Friday night and get another game next week.”

The goal for DeLay is simple but difficult to execute. Be better than you were against Berrien. To achieve that goal, there is a major focus on preparation for the Bulldogs, making sure that everything they do leading up to kickoff is making them better. 

On offense, the on-field focus is ball security and maximizing every single play. DeLay said communication and execution need to be “trending toward perfect”. On defense, it’s all about the eyes. “Eye discipline” as DeLay calls it. Bacon uses a lot of movement and play action and if the Bulldogs can’t stay disciplined, they will find themselves out of position very quickly. DeLay wants to see his defense have “great pad level”, be “great tacklers”, “pursue the football”, and go make plays in the air.

Of course, DeLay and the Bulldog’s focus is on the field. But there is a rather large elephant in the room that goes back to September. 

On September 20, the Thomasville Bulldogs were raring to begin region play with a home game against Bacon County. Before the teams could even take the field, however, the game was canceled due to a Bacon County forfeit. The shocking forfeit came after a social media controversy. 

Thomasville players posted about former teammate DJ Thurman, who passed away before the season. A Bacon County player commented on the post, mocking Thuman’s passing with racial slurs and offensive language. The conflict escalated on social media platforms, eventually leading to threats of violence from Bacon County players. Due to safety concerns, bacon County forfeited the game. 

Now, these two squads will meet on the gridiron with a history and much higher stakes.

“We can’t focus on what happened in the past. We have to focus on getting better than we were two weeks ago,” DeLay said. “We can’t be letting our minds think about what happened back in September. Our minds have to be focused on what it is going to take to go and win this game in the right fashion.”

When asked if Thomasville is taking extra security measures DeLay said, “I think we do an outstanding job on Friday nights making sure we take every precaution. We’re going to make sure that all parties are safe.”

Thomasville will kick off what it hopes will be a deep playoff run on November 15 for its first-round matchup with Bacon County at 8 p.m.