The Bainbridge High School boys’ soccer team finished their season on a positive note with a 2-0 victory of the Americus-Sumter Panthers last Thursday in Americus. 

The team had significantly more shots on goal for the game than did the Panthers, but finishing was an issue on the night as it had been all season.  The teams went to halftime tied 0-0, but Bainbridge quickly got on the board early in the second half thanks to Caleb Harris in the 42nd and 48th minutes.  From there, Bainbridge held on for the 2-0 win.  The victory improved the Bearcat record for the year to 8-9. 

“We certainly wish that we had a better record for the year,” said coach Rick Lewis. “In particular, we wish that we had gotten better results in region play as the team was winless (0-8) in region play.  The team was competitive for the most part in region play, with one game decided in penalties, another in overtime, two decided by one goal, and two others that were lost late in the match.  In fact, of the 9 losses, five were by one goal.  We just could not find the back of the net when we needed it most.  Also, not helping matters was the loss of our goalie prospects for the varsity team prior to the season beginning.  Matthew Hall ended up developing nicely as our starting goal keeper, but he also missed the last two games of the season due to injury.”

“Seniors Joey Mathis and Gino Pallotti contributed to our team’s goal scoring this season. Senior Robert Hayes came on strong late in the season to become scoring threat and to provide goal-threatening passes. Junior Caleb Harris battled an injury early on in the year and missed games, which did not help our cause offensively, but he came back strong and really scored some crucial goals for us when we needed them. Sophomores Caesar Chiguil and Nix McIntosh played meaningful minutes and scored meaningful goals during the season. We will rely heavily upon them next season for our team’s success. Junior Angel Munoz-Bonilla provided great pace and a dangerous threat playing out wide for us. The back line of defense composed mostly of the combination of sophomores Andru Matthews, Adam Pascual, Tom Emmons, and senior Ben Mulkey played solid and reliable defense all year. Ben Mulkey really provided outstanding leadership all year, and he will really be missed.”

Other players on the varsity team of note included Colin Morrison, Jonathan Pyles, Logan Holley, Stokes Moore, Holden White, Joe Emmons, Jesus Sanchez, Tristan Brannon, and Alfredo Rodriguez.  Jacob Brown and Kevin Ventura also saw time as goalkeepers for the team. 

“While our record was disappointing, we are a young team with many players set to return another year more mature next season.  We also have some talented players coming up from the middle school and junior varsity teams, so we are very excited about what the future holds for this team.”