Fresh off a 49-13 thumping of Cox Mill in Week 1, the Thomasville Bulldogs are off to a fast start, but a difficult four-game stretch (three on road) awaits them starting this Friday at Mt. Airy.

With A.L. Brown, Albemarle and Davie County waiting beyond the game with the Granite Bears, there will be no “easy” nights coming up, though Mt. Airy’s poor showing in the first week could indicate the 1-A power is not quite at the level they have been the past few seasons. The Granite Bears took a 50-23 beatdown, compliments of the Starmount Rams, but THS assistant coach Dick Cline is not going to let that final score persuade him that Mt. Airy poses no threat.

“We are expecting a tough game,” Cline said. “They made mistakes last week like we did, only their mistakes were costly. The mistakes they made are very correctable, so we know that it is going to be a tough battle.”

The Bears are led by senior quarterback Ben Hinson, who had a rough night completing only two passes while tossing two interceptions to go along with one fumble. Hinson passed for nearly 1,800 yards last year, so he is a veteran that knows how to make plays. Demitrius Rucker has taken over the tailback position, and has good speed to break away for a long run out of the I-formation.

“When you can run like they can, it always presents a big problem,” Cline said.

Defensively, the Bears had a difficult time stopping the run of the Rams. Thomasville rolled up over 300 yards rushing against the Chargers, so it could turn into another big night for Quin Riley, who accumulated 164 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. With Kesean Green backing him up and some positive plays coming last week from Edwin Allen, the Bulldogs have a stable of tailbacks to wear an opponent out.

Cline said the coaches got what they pretty much expected out of the first week of action from the Bulldogs. There were good spells and bad spells, but he feels the direction they are headed is a positive one.

“It was your usual first game,” he said. “We played well on both sides at times and we were sloppy at times. For the most part we thought we had made progress through the preseason, and hopefully we can continue to do that.”

Notes: Sam Nelson completed half of his passes for 123 yards against the Chargers — all of them going to wide receiver Shaquan Johnson ... The Bears defeated Thomasville 28-21 last year at Cushwa Stadium.



Sports Editor Zach Kepley can be reached at 888-3631, or at kepley@tvilletimes.com.