THOMASVILLE – Two rivalry games, two blowout wins for the Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets in the Justin Rogers era as head coach.

A week after dismantling Cairo, Central blanked Thomasville Friday night 31-0 at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Quarterback Sam Brown passed for 302 yards, ran for 64 yards and two touchdowns, as the Yellow Jackets overcame an interception in the end zone and blocked field goal to beat Thomasville for the first time since 2019.

“31-0 is a great win. I thought we moved the ball really well up and down the field, but we struggled in the red zone,” Rogers said. “Hat’s off to a Thomasville team that didn’t give up. They fought us tooth and nail. We get into that red zone and couldn’t get it punched in. There was no quit in them. That’s a testament to those guys and the way they compete.”

The teams had to overcome two lightning delays; one after halftime as the teams were about to start the second half, and the other came late in the third quarter.

Central’s offense tallied 538 yards. Ricky Fulton rushed for 74 yards against his former team. Trey Brenton added 98 yards on the ground.

Thomasville could not sustain any offensive rhythm for the third straight week. Through the scrimmage and the first two regular season games, Thomasville has managed only one touchdown. The Bulldogs found some success on the ground against the Yellow Jackets, however, that may provide some momentum heading into this Friday’s clash with Cairo. Junior Jay Randall rushed for 188 yards on 20 attempts. He caught the eye of head coach Jonathan DeLay.

“You want to talk about a kid, he’s a little banged up, but you wouldn’t know it. He’s a daggum fighter. He ran the football hard,” DeLay said. “Not to mention his kick returns. He had over 60 yards in kick returns. He played very well.”

But the Bulldogs finished with only 11 passing yards.

Thomasville (0-2) will travel to Cairo, while Central (2-0) will host Bainbridge this week.