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Senior running back Keenan Phillips scored three touchdowns in the Bearcats’ 49-7 win over Shaw. The win puts the Bearcats at 2-0 in the region and 6-2 overall. 

Friday’s game was Homecoming for the Bearcats. Phillips was honored as the 2023 Bainbridge High School Homecoming King before the game.

Bearcats head coach Jeff Littleton said the win was partly due to his team’s focus during the week. 

“Very proud of our kids and our discipline this week,” Littleton said. “We had a lot of distractions… I’m proud of our coaches for making that process go smoothly. That’s a good sign for us in the future.”

The Bearcats were running like a well-oiled machine. The offense scored five of seven touchdowns on consecutive drives, the defense shut the Raiders out until late in the fourth quarter, and the team committed their lowest number of penalties in a game on the season.

“The penalties and the execution of the offense and defense and special teams,” Littleton said. “I thought we did a good job of that tonight.”

The Bearcats scored five touchdowns in the first half and two in the second. 

Phillips had three rushing touchdowns on the night, all in the first half. 

Senior wide receiver Antavious Murphy brought in two receiving touchdowns on the night, one from senior quarterback Cam Sanders, and another from Sophomore quarterback Brooks Hines. Hines’ touchdown pass was the first career varsity score. 

Junior defensive back TaShan Carter recovered a fumble in the Raider end zone to give the Bearcats seven.

Freshman wide receiver Javeen Breedlove caught his first varsity touchdown to cap off the Bearcats’ scoring. Hines threw a high-arching pass to Breedlove in the far side of the end zone.

The only Raiders touchdown on the night came late in the fourth quarter. At that point, the Bearcats had put in their younger players to get full-speed varsity experience. 

“We dominated the game on both sides of the ball,” Littleton said. “They scored on our twos and threes. We’re upset about that because, you know, those kids practice just like the others. So we want to have pride in that.”

The Bearcats have an open week next week, then travel to Hardaway on Oct. 27 for their next contest. Kickoff for that game is at 7 p.m.