THOMASVILLE — The Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets learned something important about themselves while schooling the Worth County Rams Friday night. It is not necessary to have Erik Walden at quarterback to move the football.

After inheriting a 34-0 halftime lead, Moses Cochran and Doug Pilcher each guided Central to second-half scores in a 44-6 rout at Thomas County Stadium.

“We needed to look at our backup quarterbacks,” Jackets head coach Ed Pilcher said. “Moses came in and really did a great job of running the (first-string) offense, and in the fourth quarter all the young guys came in and did well. I was real pleased with the way they responded because sometimes they get a little intimidated playing against bigger folks.

“They still had their No. 1 defense out there, and we were still getting after them pretty good.”

The undefeated Jackets’ offense sputtered badly in previous games without Walden at the helm. First downs, much less points, were hard to come by without him. In this game, however, Central was forced to punt only once, and that came in the first quarter with Walden calling the shots.

The Jackets lost three fumbles inside the Worth County 10, including one at the 2 by Cochran during his first series at quarterback.

“The fumble was kind of disappointing, but that’s one reason we needed to get him some reps,” Pilcher said.

Worth County helped Central’s cause a great deal, especially early. The Jackets started seven drives in Rams’ territory, including their first two which were set up by first-quarter interceptions.

Mark Pickett picked off Chris Marshall’s first pass and returned it 13 yards to the 17. Then on the next snap, Cochran took a handoff from Walden and ripped up the middle for a touchdown.

On the next play from scrimmage, Randy Jones plucked a tipped pass out of the air on the Worth County 38. From there, Central used eight plays to get into the end zone. Walden capped the drive with a 2-yard scamper around the left end.

The Jackets were even more methodical on their next possession, chewing five minutes off the clock while marching 79 yards in 13 plays. They converted three third downs before David Dawson bulled across the goal line from two yards out.

Central scored twice more in the final five minutes of the half. Walden, who got the first one on an 11-yard run, tacked on a 45-yard touchdown strike to Dawson as the buzzer sounded.

Walden did not play in the second half, but his statistics were still impressive. He rushed nine times for 46 yards and two TDs.

He added 116 yards and a score through the air while connecting on eight of 10 pass attempts.

Cochran directed Central’s first three drives of the third quarter. After the first one ended with his fumble, he led the Jackets to a 45-yard field goal by Jonatan Abarca.

Doug Pilcher took over for Cochran on the first play of the fourth period. On his second snap, the sophomore fired a 30-yard scoring dart to Nic Dodson.

Cochran finished as Central’s leading rushing, gaining 56 of his 132 yards while playing quarterback. Dawson, Phillip Prather and Chester Hightower chipped in 32, 38 and 13, respectively.

The Jackets gained 409 yards overall on 64 plays.

The Rams (2-3-1) never got untracked offensively. They gained only 79 yards on 35 plays. Their lone score came when Jerome Gowdy answered Arbarca’s field goal with a 96-yard kickoff return.

“We got after them in all phases of the game,” Pilcher said. “The kids were having fun. It was a good win.”