Bainbridge coach Jeff Littleton huddled his team together at midfield Friday night, the scoreboard behind them still showing the 23-0 score that the Bearcats were on the wrong end of.

Crisp County (3-3, 1-AAA) had just handed Bainbridge its third straight loss. The players wore disappointment on their faces.

“I said the character of a team is always going to be shown when things are at its worst,” said Littleton. “It always seems to get worse before it gets better.”

The Bainbridge offense had opportunities to score Friday night against Crisp County, but couldn’t execute when it needed to most. Meanwhile, Bainbridge’s defense held the Cougars to just 9 points until the fourth quarter.

After three weeks of road games and a bye, Bainbridge returned to Centennial Field, supported by a large crowd that filled the stands. Many of them were gone toward the end of the fourth quarter when Crisp County was bleeding out the clock to seal the win.

“We’ve had a really, really good two weeks of practice, and we got better,” said Littleton. “We just didn’t execute at times tonight.”

Pinned back on its own 2-yard line in the first quarter, Bainbridge took a safety that stood as the only points on the board until about a minute to go until halftime. The Bearcats attempted a field goal later in the half, but the kick was wide right.

The Cougars went up 9-0 just before halftime on a 55-yard pass that was hauled in and carried all the way to the end zone. Bainbridge raced to put points on the board before halftime, but settled for a punt.

Receiving the kick off after halftime, Bainbridge moved the ball, but turned it over on downs. The Bearcats and Cougars punted back and forth until the fourth quarter when Bainbridge quarterback Quade Hawkins threw a pick-6 and Crisp County went up 16-0.

On the ensuing kick return, McDowell had a good run that finished with a fumble, recovered by Crisp County. Two plays later, Crisp County breaks away for a long rushing touchdown and punches the score up 23-0.

Bainbridge’s last two possessions of the game culminated in interceptions thrown by Hawkins.

“We played hard defensively, the defense kept us in the ball game,” said Littleton. “There were several times when we had chances to score and we just didn’t execute.”

Bainbridge returns to Centennial Field next Friday against Tift County. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.