Coach Jamie Ard’s Bainbridge High School Bearcats soccer team improved its record to 8-1 with a 5-1 Tuesday road victory over the Americus-Sumter County High School Panthers and a 5-1 Thursday Region 1AAAA victory over the Thomas County Central High School Yellow Jackets at Centennial Field.

Senior forwards Hal Clement and Alex Benjarano teamed up to record the Bearcats’ first goal in the 17th minute of the game against the Panthers. Clement sent a pass to the back post, and Benjarano headed the ball into the goal.

The same combination found success again in the 23rd minute when Clement passed the ball to Benjarano in the right edge of the penalty area and he kicked a low, hard shot into the net to make it 2-0.

Midfielder Bryan Ordonez increased the advantage to 3-0 in the 27th minute when he blasted a shot into the net for the first goal of the season after taking a pass from Benjarano.

In the 37th minute, a hard shot went off a Panthers’ player and into the Bearcats’ goal to make it 4-0.

The Bearcats’ final goal, which increased the advantage to 5-0, came after halftime when Clement took a ball that was played forward and hit a half volley shot that went over the hands of the Panthers’ goal keeper and into the back of the net.

The Panthers’ goal came late in the game when one of their players won the ball and struck it hard toward the goal from a difficult angle. It slipped by the Bearcats’ goal keeper and into the net.

While he saw some good things, coach Ard was not pleased with his team’s overall performance against the Panthers.

“I would say the best thing we did was win the game despite what we as a team felt was a lackluster performance by our standards,” he said. “Overall we played about 20 minutes of the game reasonably well and we pressured the ball defensively like we always want to. Overall, we were really disappointed with our performance. Give Americus-Sumter County a lot of credit. They are a scrappy bunch.”

Against Central the Bearcats goals were scored by Clement in the 14th minute, Benjarano in the 24th minute, Louis Mejia in the 34th minute, Clement in the 63rd minute and Brian Ordonez in the 73rd minute.