The Bainbridge High School junior-varsity Bearcats lost a hard-fought match Wednesday to the Cairo High School junior-varsity Syrupmakers, falling by a score of 2-1 at Centennial Field.

The Bearcats surrended two early goals in the sixth and eighth minutes of the game, after some defensive mistakes created easy goal-scoring opportunities for the Syrupmakers.

In the 40th minute, Misael Rodriguez shot a low, hard shot from about 25 yards out in front of goal, that went just inside the goal post to get the Bearcats on the board and back into the game. The Bearcats fought hard from there for an equalizer, but just could not find the back of the net again.

“I was pretty disappointed with the way we gave up the goals early, and in our overall focus and effort,” said Bainbridge coach Jamie Ard. “The first half for us was pretty poor. We had a good discussion at halftime, and I thought the guys reacted well in the second half.

“The problem is there are two halves, and if you want to win games, you have to come out to play well for the entire game, rather than for just a half.

“Spencer Shreves really showed improvement in the second half of the game. Cairo did have some chances, and Spencer came up huge to stop those chances. I was pleased with what I saw from him in the second half.”

Bainbridge was scheduled to host undefeated Hardaway on Friday, for the junior-varsity region championship.