The Bainbridge Middle School eighth-grade Bearcats won an 16-14 overtime game Thursday over the Washington Middle School eighth-grade Tigers at Cairo High School’s West Thomas Stadium. The win allowed the Bearcats to finish second in the Southwest Georgia Middle School Eighth Grade Football League and a spot in the title game.

The game was 8-8 after the regulation four quarters.

The Bearcats will play the first-place Thomas County Middle School eighth-grade Yellow Jackets next Thursday at Thomas County Stadium for the league’s eighth-grade championship. Kickoff will be at 5 p.m.

The Bearcats will enter the game 3-3 while the Yellow Jackets are 5-0.

In the overtime win Thursday, each team got the ball on the opponent’s 15-yard-line.

The Tigers won the toss and got first possession. They drove down and scored on a 2-yard run. The Bearcats stopped them on an attempted two-point conversion run, leaving the score at 6-0.

Running back Dalvin Spivey ran 1 yard for a touchdown to pull even 6-6. Quarterback Eddie Cooper threw to tight end Noah Bryant, who made a diving catch in the left corner of the end zone for the winning two-point conversion.

The Bearcats struck first in the first quarter, scoring on a 3-yard touchdown run by running back Kerenski Williams. Spivey ran a reverse around right end for the two-point conversion to give the Bearcats an 8-0 lead. A big play on the scoring drive was a 20-yard pass from Cooper to wide receiver Tyler Jackson.

The Yellow Jackets tied it up in regulation with a 35-yard second-quarter touchdown run, and a two-point conversion run.

Coach Scott Starr said he and fellow eighth-grade coaches Ell Willis and Patrick Clark are very proud of their players.