THOMASVILLE — With just three weeks to prepare for their preseason scrimmage, the Thomasville Bulldogs are looking at each practice as a chance to be “Game Ready.”

While the Bulldogs weren’t crisp in their first fall practice Monday, Thomasville coach Richie Marsh said it was a blessing to finally don shoulder pads and helmets. Wednesday is the first day Georgia High School Association teams are allowed to practice in full pads.

“It was awesome,” Marsh said. “The season is right there around the corner this year. I know, time-wise, we’re about a week ahead of this, but it just seems like the season is right there tomorrow.”

While the Bulldogs began its contact work, Thomasville did not begin work on any plays. Rather its first day was full of tackling and blocking. Marsh said it’s up to the players to decide when the playbooks will be opened.

“A lot of people look good in shorts, you know, and you get excited about them,” he added. “Then, you get in pads and they’re not quite where you expected them to be.

“That’s why we had (Monday) — we didn’t run a play (Monday). The reason we had it the way we did is those kids that we’re excited about and weren’t quite there, we want to get them there.

“Hopefully, we get to run one (today). When our mindset is right, we’ll run us a play.”

That mindset is something Marsh hopes the Bulldogs can find quickly. With the preseason scrimmage just xx days away on Aug. 22 at Westover, Marsh knows what he has to find within Thomasville’s squad.

“We have been blessed with the schedule we have,” he said. “And we have to be a team with some want-to about them.”