Coach Ed Pilcher said he couldn’t be prouder of his Bainbridge High School Bearcats football team’s performance, both in Friday night’s 21-14 first-round Class AAAA playoff loss at Ware County, and throughout the season.

He talked about a critical Ware County fumble that enabled the Bearcats to get the ball in the final minute of the game.

“Ware County had the ball and we had no timeouts left,” Pilcher said. “Linebackers Marshall Mack and Jamez Harris broke through to cause a fumble and defensive back Rodney Glenn recovered it.

“Rodney tripped over their quarterback’s foot and went down. It was a great effort by Marshall, Jamez and Rodney. If Rodney had been able to keep his balance, he could have possibly gone all the way for a touchdown.

“If we had scored late, we would have gone for a two-point conversion to try to win the game.

“We had to make some adjustments in the game because Ware County outweighed us so much in the offensive line,” Pilcher continued. “They used two tight ends a lot and also brought in an extra tackle, from time to time.”

The Bearcats, who finished 8-3 overall and 5-2 in Region 1-AAAA play, were led by a solid group of seniors who Pilcher described as hard-working and dedicated.

“I can’t say enough about the great leadership and play our seniors gave us this year,” Pilcher said. “Also, I don’t want to leave out our senior running back Aaron Hall, who missed the season with a knee injury. He was there supporting us all season.”

Pilcher said he is looking forward to next season, when 34 current juniors will be returning as seniors.

‘When we got here four years ago, we could tell that — while they were very young — the group that are going to be seniors next season, were going to be a special group.”