Bainbridge head coach Jeff Littleton told his players before their scrimmage against Cairo on Friday that the game’s objective was to get better at what they do.

The Bearcats took a big step toward that, he said.

Bainbridge played the varsity starters, J.V. and ninth grade teams against the Syrupmakers and came up with a 44-6 win. Through the night, players moved from two 10-minute quarters, two-minute drills, overtime scenarios and other situations on the field.

Bainbridge took full advantage of every snap and held nothing back for the full stands at Centennial Field.

“That’s just the first glance against somebody else and you want to come out and do some good things, and we did that,” Littleton said. “But we also had a lot of mistakes. We had a lot of penalties that we are going to have to correct to beat a good football team like Cairo.”

The Bearcats blasted out of the gates early in the first series with a touchdown pass from junior quarterback Brett McLaughlin to senior wide receiver Tyler Story. It was the first of two touchdowns for Story, who said his and the team’s confidence was strong after the scrimmage.

“I think as a team we did pretty good” Story said. “It feels a lot better to hit somebody else. Once you start making plays, the team itself starts coming together.”

Other players to score were sophomore running back Dameon Pierce, sophomore wide receiver Zyon McGhee, sophomore running back Markell Broadnax and freshman wide receiver Fred Thompson.

Senior kick Evan Oldaker kicked the extra points and also nailed a 25-yard field goal for the night. Blake Green kicked the extra point on Broadnax’s touchdown.
Littleton said it was good experience for the players to hit somebody other than each other.

“We’ve been practicing for two weeks now, and when you practice against yourself, you always start getting into bad tendencies of taking bad steps and not tackling well,” Littleton said. “So it’s good to make sure we are carrying over fundamentals against someone else. So I think we’re in good position, but like I said, we have a lot of mistakes we have to correct.”