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Griffin scored two touchdowns in the last 6 minutes of the game for a comeback against Bainbridge Friday night, barely beating the Bearcats 21-20 on a cold, rainy night at Griffin Memorial Stadium.

The loss eliminates Bainbridge from the state playoffs.

Bainbridge (7-4) lined up for a go-ahead field goal 37 yards out with around a minute left in the game, which kicker Garret Sigman narrowly missed. Griffin took over on downs and ripped off a long run on second down and ended the game in victory formation on the next play.

Bainbridge had a 20-7 lead before Griffin (10-1) put together two game-changing drives in the fourth quarter. The Bears’ first touchdown came in the first quarter on a long pass to the corner of the end zone. They were held scoreless until 6:13 left in the game.

“We put ourselves in position and made some plays early,” said coach Jeff Littleton. “We played really, really good for three quarters and we just couldn’t finish them off. I give them a lot of credit. They made three big plays on us. That’s the difference in the game.”

Bainbridge’s defense played hard, with one touchdown coming from a blocked punt in the first 2 minutes of the game. Tahari Tate jumped in front of the kick, knocked the ball down and scooped it up to trot into the end zone untouched. The PAT was missed.

Jaheim Jenkin had a 60-yard pick-6 with 4:23 to go in the third quarter that gave Bainbridge a 20-7 lead.

Bainbridge’s lone offensive touchdown came on a 67-yard touchdown run from Trey Bouie. Despite moving the ball well, the Bearcats struggled with field position all night and weren’t able to turn big drives into points.

“We blocked the punt there early,” said Littleton. “We thought we could do that, and it worked well. They made an adjustment in that part of their game. We didn’t execute a few things. Not being able to field a punt hurt us on field position. That really hurts. Giving them some good field position at the end of the third quarter and in the fourth quarter.”

Starting running back Rashad Broadnax was out of the game with an injury.

Despite the disappointing end to the season, Littleton was proud of the way his team played through all 11 games.

“I think we put together some good games,” said Littleton. “We played our hearts out. We gave great effort. That’s a sign of a great team… The ball is going to bounce the wrong way sometimes, and you have to learn how to pick yourself back up and move on and get better from it.”

Griffin will go on to play Hiram in the second round of the state playoffs.