Defense helps Lee County beat Bainbridge

BAINBRIDGE — Bainbridge struggled to halt Lee County’s offense Friday night, and the Trojans rolled on to a 29-12 win over the Bearcats at Centennial Field.

Quarterback Brett McLaughlin was 14-of-32 for 156 passing yards, but the Trojans completely shut down Bainbridge’s running game, holding them to minus-2 yards on the night.

“We gave up negative rushing yards,” Lee coach Dean Fabrizio said. “Misplayed some balls in the secondary and that has to be corrected. Otis Reese, Tory Carter, Akileis Leroy and Aubrey Solomon were dominant. We really did a good job up front.”

Solomon was huge in shutting down Bainbridge’s run game and putting pressure on quarterback Brett McLaughlin. Bainbridge’s offensive line handled him well to begin with but quickly grew tired.

“It was a good challenge,” offensive lineman Christian Glover said about facing Solomon. “It’s nice being able to face dudes that are going to the next level. You can feel what college will be like. He’s pretty good. I give all my respect to him. He’s the best dude I’ve ever faced.”

Trojan quarterback Jase Orndorff was 14-of-28 for 140 yards and a touchdown pass.

But the real damage came from running back Mark Robinson, who rushed for 205 yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns. He scored in the second and fourth quarter.

“We’ve got to work on wrapping up and we’ve got to work on staying outside containment,” outside linebacker Kerenski Williams said. “We’ve got to squeeze a little bit more. The outside linebackers need to stay outside. Corners have got to break to the ball. We’ve got a lot of stuff to do so when we get back there on Monday we’re going to grind and grind until we can’t grind no more.”

Neither team found the end zone in the first quarter, but Robinson scored early in the second quarter and added a 2-point conversion to make the score 8-0.

Bainbridge (0-1) immediately responded on the next drive with a touchdown pass from McLaughlin to wide receiver Zyon McGee (6 receptions, 90 yards), who leapt over a defender on the way to the end zone. Kicker Caleb Boutwell missed the extra point to make the score 8-6.

A 49-yard touchdown pass from Orndorff to Drequan Garmon made the score 15-6, and Bainbridge went into the locker room at halftime trailing.

Lerone Broadnax picked up the ball after a Trojan punt and returned it for a 75-yard touchdown in the third quarter, inching the Bearcats within three points with a 15-12 score.

“Everyone was just looking at it,” Broadnax said about the score. “There was no whistle, so I had to get it. We have improved a lot since the Lowndes scrimmage, but we still have to improve some mistakes though. We’ll get there.”

The Trojans (2-0) piled on two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to seal the win, one from Robinson on a 43-yard run and another from Carter.

“We had lots of miscues early on, big special teams mistakes early that need to be corrected,” Fabrizio said. “It was a hard-fought win. For us to come out of there with a win is big for us.”