With Bainbridge’s Region 1-AAAAA schedule kicking off Friday against the Veterans Warhawks (6-0), coach Jeff Littleton is emphasizing a fresh slate to his players.

Everyone is 0-0.

“We explained to the kids it’s a new season,” said Littleton.

Littleton said the Bearcats (2-4) have played a few of their rivals and some tough non-region competition, and apart from a few moments, have hung with those teams.

“We have competed in every game,” said Littleton. “We hope that is going to help us coming into region play.”

Bainbridge has slid to a four game losing streak, but has kept most of those games close until the end. Last week, Bainbridge got out to a quick lead over Tift County, but dropped passes, special teams errors and a stingy Blue Devil defense in the second half gave Tift County the edge.

Even still, Littleton said there were bright spots in that game he was proud to see.

The Bearcats are eager to put that behind them and show up to region play prepared against a tough, and undefeated, Warhawks team.

“Veterans is a program that was down the last couple years,” said Littleton. “You know they have momentum on their side. The good news is we have improved every week, we are at home, we have the home crowd. We feel good about our preparation.”

Bainbridge’s focus is practicing with consistency, Littleton said. Execution comes with consistency, and consistency wins football games on Friday nights.

The Warhawks offense runs out of the gun with a triple option attack. Normally, Thomas County Central is Bainbridge’s main triple option opponent. However, the Yellow Jacket’s new coach Ashley Henderson implemented a spread style offense, making Veterans the only team Bainbridge will play with a triple option running attack.

Senior quarterback Sebastian Verger (6) has started all six games this season, racking up 410 rushing yards and three touchdowns. In the air, he’s 37-for-57 with 596 yards and four touchdowns. Complementing the rushing attack is running back Cyrus Zuell (9), who has put up 614 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground.

“It’s something we haven’t seen all year, something we are going to have to be very disciplined on defense (to beat),” said Littleton. “We need to use a lot of eye discipline. We are going to have to be able to tackle well. They have some dynamic players over there.”

The Warhawks’ defense bases out of a 4-4 look, Littleton said.

“It just depends on who they play. They have played spread teams where they have five in the box,” said Littleton. They play teams that run a little bit and they stay in the box.”

The Bearcats kick off against Veterans Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Centennial Field.