THOMASVILLE — In an historically successful season that will all come to a head tonight in the state championship game, the Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets have been recognized with 23 individual All-Region honors.
It starts with the head coach. Central head coach Justin Rogers arrived in Thomas County just last year and in just two seasons took a Yellow Jackets program that hadn’t had a winning season since the 2016-2017 season and went 10-0 in back-to-back seasons and has won two consecutive region titles and now finds itself favored in the state championship game as one of the best football teams in the state. That sort of dominant coaching has earned Rogers the Region 1-6A Coach of the Year award.
The Yellow Jackets defensive leader Dee Reddick showed that he can do more than disrupt the passing game as he has sured up Central’s special teams as their punt returner. The Auburn commit has been a game changer for Central’s kick return unit and as such has been named the Region 1-6A Special Teams Player of the Year.
On offense, the Yellow Jackets secured five sports on the All-Region First Team. Quarterback Jaylen Johnson, iron man running back Trey Brenton, the impressive blocking and pass catching tight end Malachi Thomas, and the o-linemen that make the offensive wheel turn center Owen Braswell and tackle Ty Brown all received first team honors.
Central took over the All-Region First Team defensive squad. Edge rusher Cam Brooks, Tackle Walter Reddick, linebackers Jayden Rubbo, Caleb Anderson and Tywon Christopher, and defensive back Devin Ross received first team defensive honors.
Punter Hayden Morales also received All-Region First Team special teams honors.
Central was also heavily feature in the All-Region Second team with Tre’von Pringle, Rylan McDowell, Alex Ward and Tommy Hires were named to the offensive squad, while Jimmy Dawson, Zeke Bogan and Dannell Jester were selected for the defensive team. Drew Reneau, who kicked the game winning field goal to push the Jacket to the semi-finals, was named to the All-Region Second Team as a place kicker.