Coach Thomas and his Sneads team prepare for program’s first ever state semifinal game

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG) -Our area is now down to just two high school football teams still working this week, still looking for a possible state championship. One of them is Sneads, playing in the 1A class.

Coach Bill Thomas and his Pirates are looking ahead to a game with Baker, and what will be the program’s first ever berth in the state semifinals, with that game set for Friday night.

Sneads at 9-2 now, with playoff wins over Liberty, Blountstown and Taylor behind them. The most recent being the 60-21 win over Taylor Friday in the 1A region finals.

The game with Baker a rematch of one the Pirates played at Baker late last month, with that game resulting in a 26-25 Sneads loss. So the chance to avenge one of their

two losses on the season, and get them a berth in the program’s first ever state championship game!

We spoke with coach Thomas Sunday and among things, talked about that first game at Baker.

“It was fun, it was a good game.” Thomas told us. “They are a great football team, they’re very well coached, they play hard. They’re disciplined, they’re quick. They’re tough. But I felt like that game helped us realize there are some things we need to improve on. And we’ve really focused on improving in a lot of different areas. And it showed us some things that we could still do better. You know. I feel like we’re a better football team today than we were then. And I think that game helped us probably get to where we are now.”

Thomas stayed on the thought that loss on October 30th really advanced his team’s cause this season in a big way.

“Honestly I think it showed us some things we’ve got to do to get better. And we focused on them, we got better at them. And hopefully this time...and we can..and I’m sure they’ve improved also. We watched them on film beating Vernon, and that was big. Watched it on film today. And they’re a better football team than they were when we played them the first time. I’ve got a feeling the fans are gonna get their money’s worth Friday night, it’s gonna be another good football game.”

That game at Baker Friday set for 7:30, we will be there for it, and will have the highlights in our late news Friday night.

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