THOMASVILLE — For Thomasville quarterback JT Rice, it was only a matter of time.

In a season that has been historic in the win column, the Bulldogs have also added a few names into their school record books. In the middle of a potentially region-clinching comeback win against Brooks County last week, Rice finally passed Mike Bobo for most passing yards in a single regular season in the long history of the Thomasville program.

Rice has 1,780 passing yards with one regular season game to go — Friday’s home matchup with Fitzgerald. If he throws one touchdown in that game, he can tie Bobo and Dion Graham for most passing touchdowns in a regular season (18).

“I met coach Bobo before,” Rice said. “When I broke his record, it felt really special because he’s a big guy, he’s the head coach at Colorado State. We broke a couple of records this year. It feels really good to have our names on the record books.”

Bobo, who is now in his third year at the helm of the Rams, has not let distance keep him from paying attention to his alma mater’s season.

“I get the report every Friday night on what happens,” Bobo said. “I’ve obviously been paying attention to their season. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law work (in Thomasville). I’m always going to be a Thomasville Bulldog fan so I’ve been paying attention to them and I’m proud of them.”

It wasn’t very long ago that Bobo was put on notice about JT’s run to his record.

“Either my brother-in-law or coach (Zach) Grage texted me and said he was about to break the record or had X number of yards a couple of weeks ago,” Bobo said. “I didn’t realize he broke it last week but that’s an awesome deal for him. I’m sure the most important thing for him is winning that region championship.

“Records are made to be broken and I love that he broke the record and they’re winning ballgames.”

Bobo, who threw for the previous record of 1,744 yards in 1992, was quick to point out how different Thomasville’s offensive philosophy was under his father, then-head coach George Bobo.

“They throw it a few more times (now) than when I played,” Mike Bobo said. “We were an option football team until my junior year, when we changed the offense. It was an I-formation football team with a little bit of three wide. My dad’s background was the option.”

Last year, Rice threw for 1,665 yards, 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

He has only thrown four picks so far this season, with two of them coming last week. Rice has credited his improved vision down the field for his improvement, but there was also a sense of urgency that spurred him on.

“Coach Grage sat down with me and told me to understand that most coaches, when they come in, they rebuild for about three years,” Rice said. “He said, ‘We can’t rebuild this year. This is your senior year so y’all gotta do it.’ I had to kind of grow up and take some responsibility for myself.”

To Grage, JT’s new place in Thomasville football history is much bigger than just him — it’s a culmination of an entire effort.

“It speaks a lot about the team,” Grage said. “It speaks a lot about JT as a player with him growing up and really letting the game come to him. It’s also really nice — in order to break all those records you’ve got to have someone blocking for you. You’ve got to have someone catching the football.”