Coach Jeff Littleton won’t be looking at the scoreboard Friday night during Bainbridge’s scrimmage against Lowndes County.

He’ll be looking at his players, measuring each one on their ability to compete. Individual battles, team battles, battles for spots on the depth chart, all of it.

“Friday night, I’m looking for if you’re going to compete,” said Littleton. “Even though this kid is bigger than you in front of you, are you going to compete against him? That’s basically what I’m looking for in a game like this. If we can compete against a major 7A program, then I know I can trust you and we can build something for the future.”

Lowndes County (1-7A) finished 10-4 last season, reaching the semifinals of the state playoffs and losing to eventual state champion Milton 28-17. The Bearcats are familiar with scrimmaging the Vikings in the preseason, having practiced against them the last two seasons before kicking off the regular season.

The Bearcats plan to run their full offense, according to Littleton, with small adjustments here and there to account for size differences between the two teams. A successful scrimmage is one where the Bearcats are an improved team once the clock hits zero.

“We’re concentrating on Lowndes, but we are also making sure we get better this week and learn from it,” said Littleton. “It doesn’t count on the scoreboard, but still, we are guarding against ourselves. We got to get ourselves better, regardless of who we are playing this week. This week in practice is going to be a challenge to make sure we improved from last week.”

To help prepare and challenge as many players as possible, Bearcat fans can expect a consistent rotation of players at different positions.

“We are going to play a lot of different people and put them in situations to see if they are productive,” said Littleton.

Bainbridge may have won the 2018 State Class AAAAA Championship, but Littleton is adamant with his team that last season is in the past, and there are no guarantees for 2019.

“We are not ready to win a championship right now,” said Littleton. “You can’t win it Friday night, but you can lose it by not getting better and skipping a day or two.”

Bainbridge kicks off against Lowndes County at 7:30 p.m. at Centennial Field. Tickets are $8. Gates open at 6 p.m.