The eight grade Bearcats set the tone with a dominant first quarter on their way to a 36-6 rout of Marianna at Centennial Field on Thursday. The Bearcats scored three first quarter touchdowns to take an early 22-0 lead over the visiting Bullpups.

Quarterback Caleb McDowell opened the scoring with a 31-yard run. Rashod Broadnax opened the drive with a 15-yard run on first down from the Bullpup 47 yard line to the 32. On the fourth play of the drive, McDowell then bounced a play outside and was off to the races for the score.

The Bearcats stretched their lead to 14-0 on McDowell’s second touchdown run of the day. He took a handoff from QB Quayde Hawkins and went off of left tackle and then bounced outside the Marianna defense and raced to the endzone.

Less then a minute later the Bearcats added another score following a blocked punt by Broadnax. After three plays with no gain, Hawkins dropped back and threw a swing pass to the right to fullback Jvon Lee. He swerved his way through two defenders and into the endzone. A two-point conversion extended the Bearcats first quarter lead to 22-0.

Mariana held the Bearcats scoreless in the second quarter and for most of the third, but with 3:16 left in the third quarter McDowell found the endzone for his third touchdown of the day. On fourth down McDowell ran left on a sweep racing past Marianna defenders for the 12-yard score.

With just under two minutes left in the game, the Bearcats added their final score of the game when running back Kaveon Brown broke free for a 25-yard touchdown run.

The Bullpups lone score came with 16-seconds remaining in the game. Running back Jaylon Luscious found an opening on the right side and raced untouched for a 61-yard touchdown. On the two-point conversion attempt the Bearcat defense stopped the fullback on a run to the right side. The eight grade Bearcats will travel to Thomasville on Monday for a make-up game.