Apart from a bad break on the opening drive, the Bainbridge Bearcats cruised past the Early County Bobcats (0-3-1) in Blakely Friday night for a 50-7 win.

Bainbridge quarterback Brett McLaughlin’s pass on the second play from scrimmage was blocked down by a Bobcat lineman, caught and ran down to the Bainbridge 8-yard line. Two plays later running back Javiah Wimberly was in the end zone, making the score 7-0.

“We have to read our keys and at times we didn’t,” Littleton said. “They got us on a trap a couple times, they broke that first play outside on us because we weren’t set on the edge. Those are mental things that we work on essential to the way we play our defense.”

Nevertheless, the Bearcats (1-2) kept the Bobcats out of the end zone for the rest of the night.

“Everyone did their job,” defensive end Devin Morris said. “Our line did a great job, and the linebackers came in and did their job.”

Dameon Pierce had 13 carries for 118 yards and two touchdowns, oftentimes dragging defenders around his ankles while he fought for more yards.

Pierce put the Bearcats on the scoreboard first with a 1-yard touchdown run. A blocked punt on the Bobcat’s 25-yard line put Bainbridge on the 12-yard line, and Pierce handled the rest to tie the score at 7-7.

Will Kelley caught a touchdown pass on the Bearcats’ next drive. McLaughlin found Kelley in the end zone for the six-yard score, and Bainbridge was up 14-7.

“Just catch it and get it in there,” Kelley said about the thought going through his head on the touchdown. “That’s all I needed to do. I feel great, everyone did their jobs and executed. You do that and get a win.”

Bainbridge pulled away right at the top of the second quarter. With 11:49 left in the half, Pierce broke free for a 35-yard touchdown run. After taking advantage of a fumbled Bobcat kick return, McLaughlin found wide receiver Alex McGivern wide open and threw him a 31-yard touchdown pass. Caleb Harris’ extra point was blocked, but Bainbridge was leading 27-7.

Later in the quarter, punter Clark Wiggins ran a fake punt for 31 yards, and four plays later McLaughlin threw a touchdown pass to Zyon McGee in the end zone to make the score 34-7.

Safety Lerone Broadnax scooped and scored with 10:18 left in the third quarter, a 47-yard touchdown run that improved the score to 41-7.

Pierce scored his second touchdown with 9:42 left in the fourth quarter, driving 8 yards over defenders into the end zone.

With just over two minutes left in the game, Early County was pushed back on their 16-yard line and forced to punt. The snap went over the punter’s head and out the back of the end zone for a safety, and Bainbridge sealed the deal at 50-7.

“A win is always big,” Littleton said. “We did some good things tonight. The bottom line is still that we have things to fix. Early County is a good football team. They’ve had some injuries and they have lost a lot of players. What we have to take from this game is the positives of some things we made mistakes on in last week’s game, and build on that.”

Bainbridge returns to action next Friday, Sept. 23, against Dothan (Alabama) at Centennial Field. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.