Tune in Friday at 3 p.m. for the first “Your Hometown Tailgate” episode of the season. Blaze and Aaron will be live from Fallin’s BBQ in Thomasville previewing matchups across the area.

THOMASVILLE, Ga. (WALB) — Colquitt County and Thomas County Central will meet Friday night for the first time in 14 years, renewing a matchup between two of South Georgia’s most decorated high school football programs.

The teams are separated by less than 30 miles of highway.

A rivalry renewed

The last meeting between the two programs came in 2012, when the Packers won 35-33.

Colquitt County head coach Sean Calhoun called it an opportunity to face “arguably the hottest program in Georgia the last 5 years.”

“I think they’re 35th in the country, I think 5th in all classifications, probably could be arguably number one,” Calhoun said. “So yeah, all things aside, we want to be 1 and 0. We’d love to be 10-0. To have a chance to beat a team like this, it’d mean the world to us.”

Coaching ties

Thomas County Central head coach Justin Rogers led Colquitt County from 2019 to 2021. Calhoun succeeded Rogers at Colquitt County.

Rogers said the focus for his team is on maintaining the program’s standard.

“I think the only thing you talk about is not necessarily last year, but in the last four years and just understand that you need to maintain a standard,” Rogers said. “And not just the last four years, this school’s history of how good they’ve been here. Making sure we are holding up our end of the standard. You don’t inherit wins. You got to go earn them.”

Championship history

Colquitt County won back-to-back state titles in 2014 and 2015. Thomas County Central won state titles in 2023 and last season, capping an undefeated championship run with a 62-21 win against Gainesville at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Preparing for the noise

Colquitt County senior transfer Khi Mitchell will make his first start as a Packer at quarterback. Calhoun said practice this week has focused on communication ahead of a loud road environment.

“Probably gonna be hard to talk to each other,” Calhoun said. “You’re going to have to get super close or probably yell, so again, just something we really got to focus on. We can pump all this crowd noise, but it’s gonna be way different on Friday night.”

Thomas County Central will start its own transfer quarterback, Aiden McPherson, formerly of Rome. Friday will be his first game in Thomas County Stadium, also known as the Jackets’ Nest.

“He might not know what to expect, but all the other guys know what to expect,” Rogers said. “They’ve been on that sideline, they’ve experienced the electricity there. Yeah... Aiden’s in for a treat.”

Season stakes

The game does not carry region implications. Under the GHSA’s new playoff format, which uses a power ranking system, this week 1 result could factor into postseason positioning in November.

“The whole community is excited. The team’s excited, the school’s excited! We just gotta get to Friday!” Rogers said.

“Two just ultra passionate communities, super close to each other. Game 1, I mean, does it get any better than that?” Calhoun said.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21, at Thomas County Central.

Have a news tip or see an error that needs correction? Let us know. Please include the article’s headline in your message.

To stay up to date on all the latest news as it develops, follow WALB on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and X. For more south Georgia news, download the WALB News app and add WALB as a preferred source on Google.

Copyright 2026 WALB. All rights reserved.