THOMASVILLE — Thomasville coach Zach Grage went into Friday’s night showdown with rival Thomas County Central looking for more explosive plays from his offense and defense.

In a short burst during the second quarter, he got just what he was seeking.

The Bulldogs scored 21 points in less than three minutes and rolled to a 39-7 victory over the Yellow Jackets before an overflow crowd at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Leading 12-0 as the second quarter started, the Bulldogs (2-0) got another score as Payten Singletary made a diving catch of Chad Masoce’s 23-yard touchdown pass.

On the ensuing kickoff, kicker Marc Davis mishit the football and it squibbed into and off a Yellow Jacket defender. Thomasville recovery and on the next play, Masoce hit Jay Tillman for a 40-yard scoring strike.

“He didn’t mean to do it,” Grage said of what appeared to be an onside kick. “It made us look good, didn’t it?”

Two plays later, Ronald Smith picked off Adam Tedder’s pass and set the Bulldogs up at the Central 23-yard line. That led to Mascoe’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Tillman and Davis’ extra point pushed the lead to 33-0.

The three second-quarter scores came in a span of 2:35.

“We challenged them this week to be explosive. I thought we were missing out on that last week,” Grage said.

The Bulldogs defense bottled up the Yellow Jackets offense for much of the first half until Central’s final possession of the second quarter. Tykeem Wallace’s interception put the Yellow Jackets at the Bulldogs 44, and Tedder’s 6-yard touchdown pass with 31.1 seconds left in the half brought the Jackets to within 33-7.

With Central getting the ball to start the second half, coach Ashley Henderson figured some momentum might finally be on his side. But Tedder was sacked on fourth down on the first possession, and Mascoe hit a wide open Sammy Morrow for a 49-yard scoring strike.

“We built a little momentum going into halftime,” Henderson said. “We weren’t able to capitalize on it in the second half. It was a disappointing night overall. But our kids didn’t quit. They kept playing hard. The kids bowed their neck even when the game was out of hand. They kept playing.”

A bad Yellow Jackets snap led to Thomasville’s first score, a Tan Gelin 1-yard run.

Mascoe connected with Tillman for a 52-yard gain that set up Mascoe’s 1-yard keeper and a 12-0 lead with 7:03 to go in the first quarter.

The fast start also was to Grage’s liking.

“I challenged the kids,” he said. “We’re just a little 2A school down by a chicken place. We just came out and played.”

Meanwhile, Thomasville’s defense held the Yellow Jackets to 28 total yards in the first half.

“Our defense is phenomenal,” Grage said.

The Yellow Jackets (1-1) are off next week until they face Cook County on Sept. 7.

“Our guys will play as well as we coach them. It’s on me totally,” Henderson said of the loss. “There is nowhere else to look, except on me. We’re going to learn from this and we’re going to get better. We’re going to get better in a hurry.”

Editor Pat Donahue can be reached at (229) 226-2400 ext. 1806.