Ware County plays for the first time under the lights at Memorial Stadium Friday night hosting Bainbridge in the home opener.
The Gators (1-1) have played two state-ranked foes to open the season on the road beating then Class 2A secondranked Appling County 40-10 before falling 20-16 to Class 5A sixth-ranked defending champion Coffee.
Friday’s encounter with the Bearcats (0-2), under new head coach Jay Walls, is their first on the road. Bainbridge’s opening threegame slate is as brutal as Ware County’s. Bainbridge fell 59-6 to Coffee in the season opener and 1310 to Class 2A fifth-ranked Cook last Friday. The Hornets scored the game-winning touchdown with 38 seconds remaining on a 15-yard pass.
It marked the first time since 2016 Bainbridge has lost its first two games of the season.
The Bearcats were ranked fifth in the Class 3A pre-season poll before falling out after the opening week loss.
The Gators and Bainbridge are meeting for the 23rd time and for the fifth straight year. Ware County holds a 13-9 series lead.
The Bearcats ended a nine-game losing streak (dating to 2002) in the series last season. Bainbridge, ranked fourth in Class 4A, upset the Class 5A top-ranked Gators 35-21 at home.
Ware County enters trying to right an offense bloodied by the Trojans at Jardine Stadium. The Gators’ run game managed just eight yards on 22 tries while the passing game netted just 100 yards. “We struggled against a very good defensive unit,” head coach Jason Strickland said of the Gators’ rushing attack. “We have some banged up guys in the backfield right now. We (coaches) changed our offensive philosophy heading into the season because of our returners up front (linemen) and what we thought we had in the backfield.
“This week, we may be moving some people around to find some running backs for a thin room. It’s not what we were looking to do.”
Bainbridge’s defense, which faced a short field all night against Coffee, played much better against Cook.
“They (Bearcats) play with the same chaos they brought to the field the last several years,” said Strickland. “They have some really good players returning. Looking at the film against Coffee, they (Trojans) did not have to drive the ball a long way with all the turnovers.
“We’ve (coaches) got to make sure our guys rise to the occasion. We’d have one guy here or one guy there that didn’t at times and it was because those were young guys playing in a big game for the first time so we had some growing pains.”
Bainbridge’s offense struggled mightily against the stout Trojans’ defense with a backup quarterback. The Bearcats had their starter back against Cook with his return from an ACL injury.
“He’s very athletic,” said Strickland. “He can run it and throw it which brings an added dimension to the offense. Their (Bearcats) quarterback in the opener was not ready for the pressure Coffee brings. They were also hurt in the special teams department.
“We were missing a few players (Nick Simmons illness; Damarius Dennis injury) on the defensive side of the ball who could have really helped. We’ve just got to build on what we’ve done with the guys who played Friday and hopefully have Simmons and Dennis back on the field to add to that.
“Overall, I thought we played good defense except for a couple of breakdowns. The winning score came on a short field. Coffee’s first touchdown was set up by a long pass on a third down play and the second was about 42 yards from a tight formation.”
