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The 2022 Bainbridge Bearcats football team took the field Friday night as they faced off in a scrimmage against Crisp County, as the Bearcats make their final preparations for the 2022 regular season.

In the week leading up to the scrimmage, head coach Jeff Littleton said he and his staff wanted to see physicality and aggression out of the players and also get them comfortable in game situations.

The Bearcats had to knock the rust off and get acclimated with competing against a different team during the first half, but really picked up pace in the third quarter as they became more comfortable.

“I think overall we competed well,” said Littleton. “In the first half we stood around and made some mistakes and didn’t play as fast as I wanted to play but that’s expected in the first scrimmage. In the second half we played a lot more physical and I was really pleased with the effort shown.”

The Bearcats were led by junior Anatavious Murphy who made plays on both sides of the ball, recording a pick-six in the first quarter and another touchdown on the receiving end at the end of the second quarter.

“Anatavious is a playmaker,” said Littleton. “We need to get the ball in his hands because every time he touches the ball he has that ability to take it the distance.”

The third quarter was pivotal for the Bearcats as they moved the ball on offense and played physical on defense. On a drive that lasted over six minutes, junior wide receiver Keenan Phillips capped off the series with a touchdown reception and flipped into the end zone.

“In the third quarter we were just more physical,” said Littleton. “We came out and ran some power picks and executing our inside zone and option plays. Physicality and execution is what it always comes down to.”

In the fourth quarter the junior varsity players had the opportunity to get varsity level reps and showed eye opening plays. Quarterback Brooks Hines completed a twenty-yard fade route to wide receiver Jabari Smith for a score that sent the Bearcat sideline into a frenzy.

Smith also had some powerful runs that resulted in chunks of positive yards. All in all, coach Littleton and his staff were pleased with the production they saw from the scrimmage and are excited to build off what they learned.

“Our kids just need to realize we need to play physical all four quarters,” said Littleton. “Tonight I feel like we only played physical in the third, but that’s just something that is going to come with time and experience. But I’m happy with what we learned from tonight. It was a great experience for our players.”