Bainbridge High School Bearcats Head Football Coach Ed Pilcher greeted 105 players for the first day of spring practice Thursday at the new Bainbridge High School practice field.

“We have a few rising ninth graders, but most of the players out for practice are rising 10th, 11th and 12th graders,” Pilcher said Tuesday.

“We went into full pads right away and are doing a lot of work on fundamentals. We will work for nine days, finishing on Wednesday, May 19.

“Spring is the time to work on fundamentals and we plan to work on them every day.

“We could have some kind of intrasquad scrimmage on the last day. We will just have to wait and see.”

The Bearcats return their top two quarterbacks, senior Rohan Gaines and junior Steven Bench to run Coach Pilcher’s split-back veer offense.

They must find replacements for graduating running back Thomas Smiley and graduating defensive back Jonathan Warren.

A key returnee, along with Gaines and Bench, is All-State kicker Keenan Adams who had a record-setting 54-yard field goal against the Cairo High School Syrupmakers.

Also back is senior offensive and defensive lineman Jim Griffin.

Pilcher believes the pace of practice sessions, both in the spring and during the season, is very important.

“We want out practices to be fast paced,” he said.