Who has the toughest schedule in Thomasville?

With the 2024 high school football season just around the corner many questions are bing asked. One of the common ones, who has the toughest schedule? Between the Yellow Jackets, the Bulldogs, the Warriors and the Syrupmakers there will be some really great football this year. Epic rivalries, possible region title match ups and a potential game of the year litter the fall calendar. But, who has it the toughest?

To start, the reigning 6A state champion Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets have a pretty easy non-region schedule. Thomasville could give them a run for their money in the Rose City Rumble with their veteran offense and Cairo is certain to be better than last year with a freshman phenom at quarterback. But, Central should be able to handle the rest of their non-region schedule without much stress. They also play the first five games basically at home with the only away game being at Thomasville.

They really have two challengers in the region. Lee County gave Central their toughest test with running back Ousmane Kromah, now going into his senior season, dropping 195 yards and a touchdown on the Yellow Jackets. The other challenge with a candidate for the game of the year. Central will host reigning 5A state champion Coffee in the last game of the season. Assuming both teams come into that season as expected, it could be a battle to stay undefeated and for a region title. Either way, this is going to be a very tough game for Central. It all culminates in a schedule that features several tough challenges for this Yellow Jackets squad.

Cairo’s schedule is a mixed bag. They open their season with Thomas County Central and Thomasville back-to-back. That being said, the Syrupmakers are in virtually the same region, one that they dominated outside of a bad loss to Bainbridge last year. Cairo is expected to be much more competitive in that Bainbridge game this year as the Bearcats have lost QB Cam Sanders and game wrecking RB Keenan Phillips to graduation. They will likely finish the season with just three losses on a schedule with some challenges, but more games where they are the favorite.

Thomasville lucked out with their region play. Outside of Fitzgerald, no team in the Bulldogs’ new region finished above fourth in their region last year. The Bulldogs, of course, will face Thomas County Central and Cairo, but those two game are expected to be far less lopsided than they were last season. They took down Brooks last year and it would be a surprise if they lost to Pelham in their home opener.

At worst Thomasville should enter region play 2-2 and they are expected to take care of business, with the only regional challenge expected to come from an away game at Fitzgerald. When ranking strength of schedule, it’s not crazy to say that Thomasville has the easiest schedule of the four teams in the area by far.

Finally, Brookwood is the complete opposite of the Bulldogs. The Warriors are replacing two of the best football players to come out of Brookwood in QB Rodge Waldrop and RB TJ Thomas, which is hard enough to do when you don’t have the toughest schedule in the area. Unfortunately, the Warriors do.

Brookwood kicks off their season with an away game against Westfield, a team that finished last year ranked in the top ten in the GIAA. They have just a single home game in their first five contests and their second home game in week six is Frederica, who was a final four finisher in the state playoffs. Finally, after four straight home games, the Warriors finish their season with an away game facing the defending state champion Valwood.

So here are the toughest schedule rankings, easiest to toughest: Thomasville Cairo Thomas County Central Brookwood