The Bainbridge Bearcats displayed a few flashes of brilliance against the Lowndes Vikings (1-AAAAAAA) at Friday’s scrimmage, but also showed areas where they need to improve over the next couple of weeks.

But that’s why you play a scrimmage, coach Jeff Littleton said.

“I feel like with the caliber of team that we played, we did some good things,” Littleton said. “We just made a lot of mistakes where we backed ourselves up offensively a lot.”

The offensive made a small habit of off sides penalties in the first half, but Littleton attributed that to anxious energy more than anything.

Bainbridge scored its touchdown in the fourth quarter when backup quarterback Jackson Wheeler hit receiver Michael Ryan for the score, topped off with a 2-point conversion from freshman running back Rashad Broadnax.

Starting quarterback Mark Loeffler was 7-for-19 for 61 yards, connecting with receiver Adrian Cooper on a couple big plays.

“Overall we did good,” Loeffler said. “Penalties kind of brought us back, but we just got to work around those. Just keep talking and keep working.”

Damoen Pierce rushed for 103 yards on 16 carries. The Bearcats threatened to score in the last minute of the first half, marching from their own 20-yard line to The Vikings’ 3-yard line off a couple big runs from Pierce, but couldn’t punch it in before time expired.

The Bearcats defense showed some of the highest potential, though, holding the 7A school to just two touchdowns.

“Defense did real good,” Littleton said. “We gave up a couple of big plays. The main thing is, again, we shot ourselves in the foot defensively a couple of times where we had them stopped on third down and we gave them a first down and let them hold onto the ball a couple times. So we did the same thing on both sides.”

The Vikings’ first touchdown came from a couple big pass plays that pushed them down the field, ending on a 1-yard rush from Gary Osby in the second quarter to make the score 7-0. Lowndes found the end zone again in the third quarter when quarterback Michael Barrett hit Tayvonn Kyle for a 23-yard touchdown.

Junior linebacker Randy Fillingame had an interception that put a stop to a big Lowndes drive.

“I feel really good about this team,” Littleton said. “They work hard, they have a good attitude. They play together. We don’t have any negativity on the sideline. When you are all pushing in the same direction, and you got some talent, then you’re going to be a pretty good team.”