The Houston County High School Bears shut out the Bainbridge High School Bearcats 6-0 Tuesday, in Warner Robins, Ga., to win the Region 1-AAAA soccer championship.

The Bearcats will host the Richmond Hill High School Wildcats on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in a first-round State Class AAAA game at Centennial Field. Admission to the game, which is set by the Georgia High School Association, will be $7.

The Bears took an early 2-0 lead Thursday over the Bearcats with goals in the third and 12th minutes. They increased the lead to 3-0 with a goal in the 25th minute.

The Bearcats defense tightened and the Bears’ final three goals did not come until the 66th, 67th and 70th minutes.

“I will not focus on the negative of losing the Houston County game,” Bainbridge coach Jamie Ard said. “We have had a fine year to this point. We are 14-4 and we finished second in our eight-team region. That is not bad when you consider the history of this program and look at the big picture.”

Ard had particular praise for Bearcats goal keeper Dominic Douglas.
“Dominic made a name for himself in goal against Houston County,” Ard said. “He made some spectacular saves on some very good shots. I know we gave up six goals, but he was under pressure all day and he still made some big saves for us.

“Louis Mejia played a strong second half and worked very hard, even after the game was decided. Villeser Sarmiento showed a lot of courage playing on an injured leg for most of the second half. I hope he will be ready for Tuesday’s game. We really need him to play on the back line of defense.

“All is not lost on the Houston County game. We can learn from it as we prepare for our game on Tuesday against Richmond Hill.”

Ard said he hopes that Bainbridge has a strong home crowd for Tuesday’s game.

“[Richmond Hill is] going to be a very strong team and we need to learn from our mistakes against Houston County so we can be successful in the playoffs,” he said. “We just need for fans to come out and support us on Tuesday. These guys represent our community and I hope the community will come out and support us in this first-ever Bearcats home state playoff soccer game.”