It was a low-scoring defensive battle Wednesday afternoon in Cairo, but the Bainbridge Bearcats pulled out a 8-0 win over Washington Middle School.

In the second quarter, Bainbridge had driven down to the Tiger’s 7-yard line with four seconds left on the clock. Quarterback Deyon Bouie failed to get the ball across the goal, getting tackled at the 1-yard line as the first half ended.

Bearcat Zion Bouie returned the second half kickoff 2 yards from the Bainbridge 19 to the 21. On the first play, Bouie ran to his left, splitting two defenders in the Bearcat backfield, and then outran two more would-be Tiger tacklers, on his way to a 79-yard touchdown run. Bouie cut back over the left guard for the 2-point conversion.

With five minutes left in the fourth quarter, Washington had driven the ball 48 yards to the Bainbridge 3-yard line, but the Bearcat defense rose to the occasion and stopped the Tiger advance in four consecutive plays.

On fourth down from the Bearcat 3-yard line, Washington tried a wingback reverse to the left side of the Bainbridge line. Seeing no room to run, the running back cut back, but was met by Bearcat defensive tackle Jayshon Mitchell, who then was aided by Bouie and a host of others who threw the runner for a yard loss and Bainbridge took over stopping the threat.

The Bainbridge Middle School team improves their record to 3-0 on the season.