THOMASVILLE — Thomas County Central is a win away from hosting the Class AAAA championship game. Standing in the Yellow Jackets’ way is a six-hour bus ride and a 17-win team in Southeast Whitfield.

“They’re a quality team. They’re well coached,” said Central (16-0-1) coach Jonathan Carroll, whose team traveled to Dalton Monday to prepare for today’s 6 p.m. kickoff. “Every game in the playoffs up until now has been a scrap for us. That’s just our style. We just scrap and fight for what’s ours.”

Central has been living on the edge the last two rounds of the playoffs. The Yellow Jackets stung Alexander 1-0 in overtime in Friday’s quarterfinal round. That followed a thrilling 3-2 win against McIntosh last Tuesday when the Yellow Jackets won on penalty kicks.

“We play in a very defensive system,” Carroll admitted. “It’s just a bunch of leaders back there. If you look at players like Marcus Diaz, you think he’s a junior or a senior, but he’s a freshman. We have Ethan (Vick) back there. Josh Choice is filling in for Duran (Corbitt) back there.”

According to Carroll, the Yellow Jackets haven’t been in this position in about 10 years. After back-to-back seasons of getting ousted in the postseason’s second round, Carroll is hopeful his squad will not be in awe of its surroundings.

“It’s going to be an atmosphere we’re going to have to be mentally ready for,” Carroll added. “These guys pull out a big crowd. They get noisy. As long as we can block that out and focus on what we’re doing, there’s no doubt that we can be successful.”