Eighth grade Bearcats suffer tough loss to Yellow Jackets, get redemption against WMS Tigers
Published 4:49 pm Friday, September 21, 2018
The Bainbridge Middle School football team split two games this week at Centennial field.
On Tuesday the middle school Bearcats dropped a heartbreaking 14-6 loss to the Thomas County Central yellow Jackets.
Thomas County took an early lead in the contest on a 41 yard run at the 4:21 mark of the first quarter, but the Bearcat defensive side squashed the 2 point conversion attempt giving the visitors a 6-0 lead.
Bainbridge quarterback Bo Smith tied the score on a quarterback sneak at 4:46 in the second quarter, with a one yard run. The two point conversion run up the middle was stopped just short of the goal line to keep the score even.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter Bainbridge mounted a sustained drive only to turnover the ball over at the 1 yard line due to a bad snap exchange that an alert Thomas County recovered..
With only 3:17 left in the contest a Thomas County running back found an opening in the Bearcat defense and raced 59 yards for the game winner, the two point conversion was good which gave Thomas County a 14-6 lead and eventually the final score.
Bainbridge bounced back from Tuesday’s loss with a 22-12 win on Thursday against the Washington Tigers from Cairo.
After a scoreless first quarter the Bearcats finally got on the scoreboard late in the second quarter to take a 8-0 halftime lead. Bainbridge quarterback Bo Smith threw a pass to runningback Donte Broadnax who scored from three yards out.
Broadnax followed with a run for the 2pt conversion.
In the third quarter at the 6:53 mark, Broadnax showed versatility as he threw a halfback pass to wide receiver Malik Anderson for the second Bainbridge score. The pass play covered 35 yards and following the 2point conversion run by Broadnax gave Bainbridge a 16-0 lead.
Towards the end of the third quarter Bainbridge scored again ,with only 1:08 remaining, as Broadnax scored his second Touchdown from 22 yards out. Although the conversion failed score remained 22-0 in favor of the Bearcats.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter the Tigers were able to score on a 7 yard run, but failed on the conversion to narrow the Bainbridge lead at 22-6.
The Bearcats received a scare late in the contest as a Tiger defender made a leaping interception at the Washington one and raced 99 yards for a touchdown with only 47 seconds left in the contest. Bainbridge Safety Amari Borden stuffed a two point conversion attempt by stopping a Washington running back on a sweep play.
Following an onside recovery Bainbridge ran out the clock prevailing 22-12.
The win elevated the 8th grade teams’ record at 2-2 on the season.