The Bainbridge High School Bearcats earned a 7-1 victory over the Brooks County Trojans on Tuesday, March 12th at Centennial Field.

The Bearcats opened up the scoring early on a goal from Cesar Chiguil in the second minute.  He was assisted by Nix McIntosh.  The score remained 1-0 until the 19th minute when Mason Ard scored a second goal for the Bearcats following an assist from Alfredo Rodriguez. 

In the 28th minute, a foul was called on a Bearcat defender in the penalty area, and Brooks County converted the opportunity to cut the score in half, 2-1.  That was as close as Brooks County would get, though, as the Bearcats answered with a goal from Caleb Harris in the 34th minute. 

Cesar Chiguil assisted on the goal.  The Bearcats went to halftime with a comfortable 3-1 advantage.  When the second half whistle began, Brooks County did the Bearcats a favor in the 43rd minute as a defender deflected a pass into the Bainbridge goal to extend the Bearcat lead to 4-1. 

In the 50th minute, a Bearcat attacking player was fouled in the penalty area.  Cesar Chiguil stepped up to the spot and converted the penalty opportunity, extending the Bearcat lead to 5-1.  Angel Munoz got into the act of scoring in the 57th minute after taking an assist from Stokes Moore.  The final score of the game came from Jose Avalo in the 61st minute as he took an assist from Caleb Harrison to give the Bearcats a 7-1 victory.

The team was dominant on the night.  Brooks County had few opportunities to score as the Bearcats dominated possession.  Players were able to find and connect passes with relative ease throughout the contest.  If the ball was turned over, it was quickly recovered, and the possession began all over again.  Eventually, this wore down the Trojan players as they were exhausted and demoralized from spending so much time chasing down the ball to win it just to turn it right back over.

Bryce Jones made his first start of the season in goal, and put in a solid performance.  Many of the regular players on the Bearcat roster were unavailable, but those who were all got meaningful minutes during the contest.  Ashton Matthews  and Luke Emmons played well as they played their first significant minutes of the season in a varsity contest.  Jabez Minnis, Drew Ryan, and Pierce Taunton from the junior varsity team also got playing time at the varsity level during this match.  All of this game experience is important for these young players as they work to develop into regular contributors at the varsity level.

Last Tuesday, The Bainbridge High School Bearcats cruised to an easy 8-0 victory in Albany versus the Monroe High School Tornadoes.

Opening the scoring in the 11th minute was Caleb Harris on an assist from Andru Matthews.  Cesar Chiguil scored in the 20th minute on a penalty kick opportunity following a Monroe handball in the penalty area.  The Bearcats added another goal in the 22nd minute from Harris, assisted again by Matthews.  A fourth goal was tacked on in the 31st minute by Mason Ard, and the assist went to Joe Emmons.  The Bearcats extended their lead in the 34th minute to 5-0 following a goal by Harris, assisted again by Emmons.  Just before half-time, a sixth goal was scored by Harris, assisted by Ard.  A seventh goal was scored by Jose Avalo in the 51st minute, his first ever varsity goal, and he was assisted by Luke Emmons.  Matt Hall rounded out the scoring in the 77th minute with a goal, also his first, assisted by Ashton Matthews.

The Bearcats were dominant in their performance.  The starting players possessed the ball well, and simply wore down Monroe as they chased the ball all over the field to try to regain possession.  That took a toll on them, and the goals began to come in rapid succession for Bainbridge.  It was great to be able to get some of the younger players some minutes of playing time so that they can get the necessary live game action to be better prepared in meaningful matches in the future.