Thomasville crushes Albany High

ALBANY — It took exactly two minutes and 19 seconds for Thomasville to find the end zone against Albany High Friday night.

And the rout was on.

The Bulldogs scored three more touchdowns before the end of first quarter and cruised to an easy 55-12 victory Thursday night at Hugh Mills Stadium.

Thomasville kept the Indians winless on the season, while winning its third straight.

Albany High fell to 0-8 and coach Felton Williams searched for positives after the game.

“We started a freshman quarterback, and we knew he was going to make some mistakes,” Williams said. “I thought we ran and threw well, but you can’t turn the ball over in the red zone and expect your defense to work miracles for you.”

Thomasville scored just about every time it touchdown the ball, getting two touchdown runs from Tan Gelin and a pair from quarterback JT Rice, while Benjamin Tillman and Charlie Thomas added one apiece. Rice also threw two touchdown passes.

The Bulldogs (4-3, 2-0 Region 1-AA) climbed above .500 for the first time this season and remain tied atop the Region 1-AA standings with two heavyweights — Brooks County and Fitzgerald — remaining on their regular-season schedule. Brooks County and Fitzgerald meet Friday night.

Thomasville coach Zach Grage said his team at least solidified the No. 3 seed in the state playoffs regardless of what happens in their final two games.

“Unless there’s something mathematical that I don’t know about,” Grage said. “But winning this game gave our fans and players something to feel good about.

“But at the same time, you never play a perfect game. I’m never going to complain about a 55-12 score, but we had entirely too many penalties.”

Thomasville took advantage of five Albany turnovers, including a fumble recovery that Michael Gardner recovered and returned 44 yards for a score to give the Bulldogs a 28-0 advantage with 2:10 left in the first quarter.

Albany (0-8, 0-3) scored its first touchdown on Quinshun King’s 83-yard gallop with 6:43 left in the second quarter to trim the deficit to 35-6.

Then midway through the fourth quarter, Andru Watts scored on a one-yard keeper to cut the deficit to 55-12.

The Indians will play at Berrien next week before closing their season on Nov. 5 against Early County.