The Bainbridge Middle School eighth grade football team claimed its fourth straight Southwest Georgia Championship last Thursday with a 42-8 victory over Thomas County Central Middle School.

The victory marked the team’s 27th consecutive win with their last loss coming in the 2012 Middle School championship game against TCC when the current high school seniors were in eighth grade.

In this year’s championship game, the Bearcats took an 8-0 lead late in the first quarter when Caleb McDowell scored on a 1-yard run. Rashod Broadnax added the two-point conversion.

In the second quarter, Broadnax added to the Bearcats’ lead with a 37-yard touchdown run with McDowell adding the two-point conversion to put them up 16-0.

McDowell then had one of the biggest plays of the game when he picked off a pass from the TCC quarterback. He zigzagged his way past multiple would-be tackles before breaking away in the open field for an 80-yard pick-six to put his team up 22-0.

The defense added a second score in the third quarter, when Javon Lee recovered a fumble and took it 14-yards for the score. Broadnax scored his second touchdown of the game on a 25-yard yard run in the third quarter and Jackson McCullough scored on a 4-yard run in the fourth to put Bainbridge up 42-0.

TCC scored a late touchdown on a 68-yard run to make the final score 42-8.

On the season, BMS outscored its opponents 270-51 and the starting defense only gave up two touchdowns all year. Their average margin of victory was 31.3 points as they outscored opponents 38.6-7.3 per game.