The Bearcats are going back to basics in preparation for their matchup against Thomasville.

Head coach Jeff Littleton said that fundamentals are a “big emphasis” for the team as they look ahead to Friday night. The team worked on those fundamentals and techniques at Monday’s practice.

“We’re going back to the beginning and trying to go back over things that, sometimes, kids forget,” Littleton said. 

The Bearcats take on a 1-2 Thomasville team. The Bulldogs have an offensive core made up of Sophomore quarterback Cam Hill, senior wide receiver Cole Shaw, and running backs senior Jay Randall and sophomore Lavonte Cole.

The Bulldog defense is without a group of seniors from the year prior. Thomasville head coach Jonathan DeLay said his young group plays hard despite lacking 4-year guys.

Thomasville has lost their last two games, but Littleton said he’s not taking the Bulldogs lightly.

“We can’t look at the papers, and we can’t look at the rankings, and we can’t look at their record,” Littleton told his team. “They’re a good football team. They’ve just struggled against some very tough opponents.”

The Bearcats are three games into a “tough” non-region schedule that Littleton set to challenge his team and have them play against talented opponents. He said the opposition has shown them areas to improve and that he is looking forward to making the adjustments to improve the team.

“You play a team like coffee, and you get exposed in a certain area,” Littleton said. “You fix that, and then you play a team like Central who’s a different kind of matchup, and then you get exposed in another area… It’s kind of like putting a puzzle together. That’s kind of the fun of it, though.”

The Bearcats travel to the Rose City on Friday to take on Thomasville, kickoff at 8 p.m.