It is safe to say the Lexington-Thomasville rivalry is officially back to being one of the most hotly contested in the state.

Spotting the Yellow Jackets a 20-point lead midway through the third quarter of its third round playoff game, Thomasville roared back to lead 21-20 with 5:56 to play. Unfazed, the Jackets responded with a score, stunning Thomasville 28-21 in front of a packed house at Cushwa Stadium Friday night. The Yellow Jackets snapped a losing streak to the Bulldogs that dates back to 1993.

“I told our kids that you are not just playing for us this year, you are playing for all of those guys over the last 16 years that have lost to these guys,” said an emotional head coach of the Jackets, Chris Deal. “What a great crowd tonight. A lot of these people that came home for Thanksgiving saw something special.”

Leading 20-0 in the third quarter, the Jackets were cruising, controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides. With its hopes of advancing hanging in the balance, Thomasville pulled itself up off the canvas in dramatic fashion. Quin Riley scored two rushing touchdowns and Kesean Green one, as the Bulldogs barked and snarled their way back to lead 21-20 with 5:56 to play.

Lexington looked nothing like it did the first time around against the Bulldogs, and proved one final time they belonged this deep in the playoffs.

All it took was three plays beginning at its own 39 to find paydirt. Duke Horton ran for two yards on first down, then quarterback Al Challenger hit Marcus Pittman over the middle for a big gain to the Thomasville 23. Then, on an unusual play, the Jackets took the lead for good. Challenger pitched to Marquez Grayson, who momentarily fumbled the ball. He scooped it up and was hit on the play, but kept his feet moving and escaped for a 23-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion was successful, and Thomasville was unable to do anything with the ball on two final drives as time expired in the game and their season.

“We struggled really bad blocking them,” said THS head coach Allen Brown, who could have won his 300th game at THS with a victory. “We struggled last week and again this week.”

Five plays is all Lexington needed to start the game, as they overcame a key third-and-nine play during the drive. After just getting the first down, Duke Horton made his second huge run of the drive, ripping through the heart of the THS defense virtually untouched, racing 47 yards to the house to put Lexington up 7-0 with 10:06 showing in the first quarter.

Feeding off the momentum created by its offense, the Yellow Jacket defense came alive, limiting what the Bulldogs could do with the ball.

Thomasville’s five possessions in the first half ended punt, interception, punt, interception, punt. The interceptions came deep into Lexington territory.

Lexington’s offense continued to have success, scoring once more before the half and midway through the third quarter.

Like the champions they are, Thomasville stormed back, but Brown did not think for a second they were out of danger.

“It was a good place to be in, but we did not play enough defense there at the end,” said Brown. “They have a lot of weapons and you had to be worried. You were glad to be ahead, but you didn’t think you were out of the woods yet.”

Thomasville ends its season at 9-5.