Since losing their opening game, the Bainbridge Bearcats have been on a tear.
Bainbridge has won four straight games and re-entered the state rankings at No. 10. The Bearcats stated the season at No.9 and dropped out after losing to Lee County 38-13 in the opener. The way they’ve played over the last month indicates the team has found its stride and is ready to stick around for a while.
“We’re getting better,” coach Jeff Littleton said. “We started with Lee County and had six turnovers. We may have asked them to do too much. So, we went back to fundamentals, running the football, blocking well.”
That worked. Bainbridge beat Lincoln of Tallahassee, Fla., 43-33, and scored a big road win at Cairo, 49-22. Since then have come two home victories – 43-0 over Early County and 51-0 over Sarasota, Fla.
“The offensive line is getting better, the receivers and quarterback are getting better, we’re starting to throw the ball a little,” Littleton said.
The coach, in his fifth season at the school, prefers to talk about position groups rather than hand out individual names. But there’s no getting around the contribution made by senior running back Dameon Pierce, a Florida commit who rushed for 216 yards and four touchdowns last week. Pierce (5-11, 205) has 1,016 rushing yards in five games. Pierce has 6,672 rushing yards for his career.
“The biggest thing is working together,” Littleton said. “We’ve got kids that work hard. They’re striving to be great.”
Bainbridge hosts Rickards High from Tallahassee on Friday, then jumps into Region 1 competition on Oct. 6 at Veterans. The big showdown is expected to come on Nov. 5 against No. 5-ranked Warner Robins in a game that could determine the region championship.
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