Veterans took the field with under 3 minutes to play and down 6 points against Bainbridge on Homecoming. The Warhawks (6-1) drew up a trick play, handing the ball off to a running back who passed the ball to a receiver downfield.

Not so fast.

Randy Fillingame intercepted the pass and bolted 50 yards to the end zone to put the Bearcats up 27-14, sealing Bainbridge’s first win in six weeks. It was just one of four turnovers Bainbridge took advantage of through the night.

“That’s one of our goals,” said coach Jeff Littleton. “Four turnovers usually ensure a win. We got after it on defense as far as trying to bring a lot of pressure to people.”

Bainbridge (3-4) took a more pass-heavy approach to its offense against the Warhawks, and the results showed. Quarterback Quayde Hawkins was 15-for-25 with 183 yards a touchdown. Hawkins found Adrian Cooper in the back corner of the end zone to give Bainbridge a 17-7 lead right before halftime. Cooper was Bainbridge’s leading receiver with four catches for 88 yards.

The Bearcats got the game started with a six-minute drive down the field that ended on an incomplete fourth down pass. The Warhawks took over on downs and a few plays later found the end zone on a long touchdown pass to take a 7-0 lead.

In the beginning of the second quarter, Hawkins took a quarterback sneak 1 yard for a score, tying the game 7-7. Another drive ended with a 32-yard field goal from Caleb Harris.

Veterans attempted a field goal with 7 seconds left in the first half, but Aaron Spivie got his hand up to block the kick.

Harris hit another field goal, this time a 21-yarder, with just over 3 minutes left in the game to give Bainbridge a 20-14 lead.

On Veterans’ final drive, Bainbridge shut down the Warhawks for a three-and-out and had them punting from their own end zone. The Bearcats took the victory formation as the clock winded down.

“Ever since our off week, we made a commitment to ourselves that we were going to be more consistent in our process,” said Littleton. “And we’ve done that. We’ve executed on both sides of the ball and special teams. We still made some mistakes. We all made some mistakes tonight, and we have to be able to overcome those kinds of things, and we did. We just kept playing hard.”

Bainbridge’s rushing attack kept Veterans honest on defense. Rashad Broadnax was back from a sprained ankle, rushing for 37 yards on 12 carries. Caleb McDowell had 31 yards on 15 carries, and also completed a 48-yard pass.

Bainbridge is 1-0 in Region 1-AAAAA with the win, and Littleton agreed it was a good swing in momentum for his team.

“You can’t win a region championship—usually—if you lose the first one,” said Littleton. “We used each day to work on some particular things. We used each one of them tonight and we made some plays on both sides of the ball.  The hard work and the effort is being rewarded tonight.”

Next week, Bainbridge will take a bye before traveling to Warner Robins on Friday, Oct. 19. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. against the 6-1 Demons.