THOMASVILLE — In less than 10 days, the Thomasville Bulldogs will begin the 2024 football season. Before that, the Bulldogs will welcome Dougherty for a preseason scrimmage at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Friday. The feeling surrounding the team according the head coach Jonathan DeLay is nothing but excitement.
“I’m really excited to get to go and run into someone else. You know, it’s Thomasville all together,” DeLay said. “It’s not just O and D, it’s O, D and special teams, which makes us Thomasville. So, I’m excited about getting to put all of the pieces together and go play somebody else. I think we had a really good camp, really good summer, really good fall camp last week. I’m just excited to get out there and play a game and not just a game, but a home game.”
Dougherty will be a good test for Thomasville. They are big and athletic and are able to cover a lot of ground. Thomasville beat Dougherty in a region matchup last year, taking down the Trojans 41-12.
“This is what I want to see,” Delay said about the scrimmage. “On defense, I want to see us go and attack. Go attack our opponent. Offensively, I want to see us play with a really good tempo. Get the ball to a bunch of guys in space and let them do special stuff with it. And then special teams, I want to see us go and execute special teams live. This is really the first time we’ll be able to do it live all year so, I want us to make sure that we’re sharp.”
When asked what this iteration of the Thomasville Bulldogs’ strength is, DeLay said unity without hesitation. Last season, the buzzword for the Bulldogs was physicality. DeLay spoke on the need to be physical every chance he could. This season, DeLay’s focus is on uniting this Bulldogs squad in the search to go 1-0 every week.
“I feel great about all the playmakers we’ve got on both sides of the ball, but just the brotherhood, the chemistry that they’ve built throughout this offseason, I think that’s our strength right now,” DeLay said. “The fact that our kids can lean on each other when things get hard, when things get adverse because that’s coming in the game. I think that’s where our strength lies right now”
Thomasville will welcome the Dougherty Trojans to Veterans Memorial Stadium this Friday night at 8 p.m.