Turn your eyes to South Georgia as two No. 1 vs. No. 2 games headline Friday

South Georgia will host two potential state championship previews Friday night.

The No. 1 and No. 2 teams in Class 6A and Class 3A, respectively, will face off when Thomas County Central visits Lee County and Toombs County hosts Pierce County.

Lee County-Thomas County Central is the most likely Class 6A state championship matchup, according to the most recent Maxwell Projections. The Trojans are also projected to beat the reigning state champion Yellow Jackets in that game.

“This is a semifinal or championship game atmosphere,” Thomas County Central coach Justin Rogers said. “Me and (Lee County coach Dean Fabrizio) were talking about the other day, I mean, there’s many people that will coach their whole lives and never play in an atmosphere like this.”

The Yellow Jackets-Trojans winner has won the treacherous region each of the last four years. Thomas County Central has won three of the last four meetings, including a 35-21 victory last season.

Nothing about Lee County stood out to Rogers more than its size. The veteran head coach called the Trojans “monsters” and one of the biggest teams he had ever seen.

He also highlighted AJC Super 11 selection Jaden Upshaw, a 4-star wide receiver committed to Texas A&M.

“I mean, yeah, they can run the ball and do things like that, but the Upshaw kid gives you that where you just can’t really commit to the box like you’d really like to just because of how dangerous he is,” Rogers said.

Perhaps no team has challenged Thomas County Central, which has won two state titles in the last three years, during its run of dominance like Lee County has. The Trojans gave the Yellow Jackets one of their only three losses since Rogers took over in 2022. Those three losses have been by an average of 10 points.

For reference, Thomas County Central has beaten the rest of its region opponents by an average of 35.2 points over the last four years.

“This is always the toughest game for us every year,” Rogers said. “It’s a battle, and I think they would say the same thing.”

Fabrizio didn’t highlight a particular strength — he noticed Thomas County Central’s overall lack of weaknesses.

“Obviously, the quarterback is an exceptional talent, a dual threat, but they’ve got really good receivers, they’ve got really good running backs, they’re good on the offensive line,” he said. “On the defensive line, you’ve got the Andrews twins (Isaac and Isaiah, both college commits), who seem like they’ve been playing forever, and you’ve got (5-star prospect) Prince Che.

“They’re good at all levels of defense, and their kicking game is so good. So they’re a team that really doesn’t have many weaknesses, if any.”

Fabrizio’s team is certainly tested against talent. The Trojans have beaten two nationally ranked opponents in Miami Carol City (Florida) and Colquitt County. They have been tied or trailing in three games this season and won all of them.

“We need to get off to a good start in this game and not fall behind, but I think what (the comeback wins have) shown is our kids have done a good job staying the course and not panicking, and our coaches have done a good job making halftime adjustments,” Fabrizio said. “Here’s the thing: When you play really good people, you’re going to get down in games, and you’ve got to be able to fight back.”

But Thomas County Central introduces a new level of competition.

“They’ve just been really tough battles in the game, and the games have come down to really late in the game, and we expect that to be the case again this year,” Fabrizio said.

Toombs County and Pierce County are also projected state semifinalists, according to the Maxwell Projections. Toombs County is expected to win the Class 3A title.

The Bulldogs and Bears haven’t played since 2023, the last time they shared a region. Toombs County and Pierce County are two of the most consistent winning programs in southeast Georgia — with Toombs County winning a state title in 2024 and Pierce County in 2020 and 2023 — but that doesn’t necessarily make the game feel like a rivalry.

“It’s really like a third-round playoff game,” Toombs County coach Buddy Martin said. “Sometimes, rivalry games aren’t two really good teams. They’re two communities that are close, and you want the bragging rights.

“It ain’t about the bragging right necessarily more than, ‘If you want to be the region champs, and if you want to host a home playoff game, then you’ve got to win the game Friday night’ type deal.”

Martin hasn’t been surprised by anything he’s seen from Pierce County’s offense. That doesn’t mean the Bears are easy to prepare for — if anything, it makes preparation more difficult.

Martin calls Pierce County’s attack the “Big Bear” offense. It’s a unique and old-school, run-heavy attack that he started preparing his team for long before this week.

“They snap it to their best football player (running back Jae’Veon Williams), directly to him,” Martin said. There’s not a very detailed passing game, but what does it to you is, through the course of the game you get so concerned with tackling that cat that those safeties start creeping up, and now there’s a (receiver) running wide open down the field, and the cat just throws it up to him.”

Toombs County has six players with Division I offers, five of which will play defense in college. Pierce County coach Ryan Herring sees the elite combination of speed and size from the Bulldog defense.

Herring ventured to say Toombs County is the most talented team in Georgia from Class 5A down.

“You’re not going to break long runs,” Herring said. “Definitely, you’re not going to have long passes. They’re so fast and big that you’re going to have to just try to get yards per play.”

Pierce County has won the last five games against Toombs County. Herring was head coach for the last two, which were both decided by three points.