When you think of what makes a great Friday night high school football game, last week’s matchup between the Worth County Rams and the Thomasville Bulldogs had just about everything that you could ask for.
It’s the very game that fans have in mind when they try to describe what it means to be at a high school football game in South Georgia on a fall Friday night, when both towns have their business fronts decorated the week of the game, and the school pep rallies are the best ones of the year.
The stands are full at kickoff, with hundreds more standing around the field watching the game.
The venue, Worth County’s home stadium, is nice enough, but it’s an intimate setting that wont be referred to as a multi-million dollar stadium complete with air conditioned suites where fans can dine on the finest foods available.
But, you do have hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, with the smoke hanging low around the stadium lights to add to that atmosphere that you can only find on a high school football Friday night.
The two towns, Sylvester, and Thomasville, home to the Worth County Rams and the Bulldogs, respectively, are separated by about 50 miles and an hour’s drive.
These two south Georgia high schools have a winning history of championship football, with Worth County having won region titles in 1987, the same season they captured the state championship behind the great RB Robert Toomer, and again in 1989 and then last year, in 2024.
Thomasville has won five state titles, their latest being in 1988. They also won a mythical national championship in 1974.
Thomasville last played for a state championship in 2021, where they lost the Class AA state title to Fitzgerald 21-7.
Throw in two teams in the same region, with the region championship possibly at stake, and the fact that both programs are in the top 3 of their classification, and you have yourself a game that checks just about all the boxes of everything you could ask for in the ultimate high school football game.
You had the ITG Next Georgia Class A Division-I top-ranked and undefeated 6-0 Worth County Rams of Sylvester hosting our number 3-ranked team of Thomasville, who entered the game with a 5-1 record.
You had an explosive Thomasville team come out with big plays, especially on defense, including a pick-six by the Bulldogs Makari Williams, to jump out to a commanding 20-point lead at halftime.
When the two teams traded scores in the third quarter, the advantage remained a 20-point difference, 34-14 in the third quarter.
But, Worth County came alive and the Rams stormed back to tie the game at 34-34 behind Kaden Chester’s three touchdowns, which sent the game to overtime.
With Worth County scoring first to take a touchdown lead, Thomasville would answer with a Levonte Cole touchdown run to bring the Bulldogs to within a point of tying the game once again.
But, Bulldogs head coach Johnathan Delay decided to go for two points and the win.
The pass was intercepted by ITG Next Georgia Athlete of the Month Chance Sims, his second of the game, to deny the ‘Dogs and give Worth County the win.
“It was definitely an intense game,” Coach Delay said about the back and forth game. “It would have been more exciting had we come away with the victory, but it was two really good teams slugging it out. Maybe we will get another opportunity before this season is over,” Delay said of the possibility that the two teams could possibly meet somewhere in the state playoffs.
Worth County Coach Jeff Hammond talked about the game during his weekly show with ITG Next Georgia’s Phil Jones.
“It was a really good one,” Hammond said. “It was a lot of ups and downs throughout the whole game, and it was probably three minutes of the most sideways football I’ve ever been a part of.”
“Being able to come back and respond to that and fight and claw our way back and have a chance to win it at the end showed a lot about this football team,” Hammond said, obviously proud of his team.
The matchup turned out to be one of the most exciting games of the night, and of the season so far, regardless of classification.
This is exactly the game most south Georgia high school football fans have in mind when they are asked by out of state friends and family, “What’s football like down there?”
This is the game they’ll talk about.
An Instant Classic.
