By Barry H. Hendrix
The Thomasville High School Tigers varsity football team won 40-13 Aug. 15 in the Millry Hill School jamboree at A.D. Britton Stadium.
It was a hot and humid evening on Wildcat Hill.
“It was kind of a mixed bag,” said Clint Anderson, THS head football coach. “We had some things that we did pretty well (building on) the scrimmage we had the previous Friday. We saw improvement in some phases of the game.
“We still have a lot of things that we have to clean up. I thought our effort was good. I thought we played with high energy.
“I was very pleased with our defense getting that stop right before half,” the coach said. “The offense had some sustained drives, which was important. When you are able to sustain drives, you are able to use clock and keep the other team’s offense off the field. That was good for us to be able do that.
“We protected the ball pretty well, especially once it started raining.” The jamboree allowed the Tigers to gain experience with “wet ball work. This time of year, it seems like we always have some games that we have to play in the rain so that is hopefully beneficial for us down the road, when involved in a game where the elements are a factor.
“…We got some conditioning in. We saw us against somebody else and found a lot of things that we need to continue to work on. I did see some improvement.”
The Millry Wildcats scored first with a 64-yard touchdown run by Daelon Wallace (10:51 in the first quarter). The point-after kick by Titus Myers was no good.
Thomasville’s Jakaden Grayson scored on a 1-yard TD run (3:34 in the first). Mayder Pop added the point-after kick, and THS led 7-6. The Tigers would lead for the rest of the contest.
A 19-yard pass from Christian Draper to Mychal Brothers gave THS another TD (11:50 in the second). The point-after kick was also good.
Thomasville’s Troy Davis scored from the Millry 6-yard line (6:57 in the second). The point-after kick was no good.
Millry scored again with 29-yard TD throw from Caden Welford to Dravion Leverette (5:31 left in the first half). The point after kick by Myers was good.
Millry’s Tyde Stokley intercepted a THS pass (4:19 in the second). The Wildcats had the ball on the Tiger 35-yard line. They moved the ball to the THS 11-yard line. However, the Thomasville defense stopped Millry over-on-downs (8.2 seconds in the first half).
The Tigers led 20-13 at halftime.
Younger players were featured in the second half play of the jamboree.
Steve Grayson scored for THS on a 2-yard TD run (4:42 in the third quarter). Will Jowers was successful with the point-after kick.
Hard rain came to the game at the end of the third quarter. (A shout out to all the Tiger fans who stayed at the stadium despite the strong downpour.)
Grayson scored another TD for Thomasville with a 5-yard run (5:17 in the fourth). Jowers was good on another point-after kick.
Alvin Patrick scored on a 48-yard TD run for THS (5.2 seconds left in the game). The point-after kick by John Wilkerson was no good.
The Thomasville High School Tigers will next host the Leroy High School Bears in the first game of the regular season at 7 p.m. on Friday, August. 22 at D.F. Anderson Field.
Cash or Go Fan will be accepted at the gate.