BAINBRIDGE – The Bainbridge-Guilford varsity football team nearly pulled off their first win of 2016.
One and a half yards, in a game of inches, that was the difference between a B-G and Delhi/Charlotte Valley win.
“Fourth and one, in the middle of the field in the fourth quarter and we stuff them,” said B-G head coach Israel Lorimer. “So we get the ball back with 1:23 left in the game and no timeouts. We get down first and goal to their six (yard line). We had a pass played called, and he tucked (quarterback). We spike it, so it's third down, call a pass play and he is forced to run the pass play.”
After a failed scramble attempt from Bobcats quarterback Austin Carr on third down. The Bobcats would be looking at a fourth down, a play to which they would see the ball reach all the way to the one and a half yard line before the play was called dead and the ball was turned over.
B-G would give the ball back on the one and a half yard line down 21-17, as their defense took the field to close out the loss.
One and a half yards in a game of inches is all that stood between the Bobcats and the victory
“We did everything but win. It was a real tough loss,” said coach Lorimer.
Notably the scoring in the game would all be done in the first half as Delhi would score first just :24 seconds into the game.
“I was happy though to see our next drive, we went right down the field and scored,” said coach Lorimer.
Down 8-0 early in the game, quarterback Austin Carr of B-G would wheel his way in from 18 yards out for a rushing touchdown to draw the game to 8-6 – failed two point conversion.
The exchange of blows in the first half would continue as Erik Gullow of Delhi would run a touchdown in from three yards out for the 15-6 lead with 2:39 left in the first quarter.
An Austin Carr to Zack Ouimet 11 yard passing touchdown, followed by a Bailey Hotaling three yard two-point conversion with 9:20 left in the second quarter would raise the score to 15-14.
The win was in sight early in the game for B-G as Ouimet would nail a 40-yard field goal for the lead in the game at 17-15 with just 2:08 left in the half.
However, the Bulldogs would strike one more time, this time through the air with a Ben Branigan pass to Christian Aloisio for a 30 yard touchdown with just over :40 second left before the break.
This is where the scoring stopped, the second half would see a struggling B-G offense and a dominate defense for the Bobcats make three big stops – but no scoring.
In the win for B-G their leading rusher was Austin Carr with 58 yards and 95 yards a touchdown and two interceptions through the air. Carr was followed by Bailey Hotaling at 26 yards rushing and Nick Petrutoni with 22 yards. Carr would shine on the defensive side with a team leading five tackles, while Adam Ives would trail with four tackles and Jon Castle would see two and an interception.
In the loss for Delhi, they would see a stout B-G front hold their lead back to a mere 23 yards on the ground off of 18 carries, however, Erik Gullow would enjoy more success through the air with two catches for forty yards.
Ben Branigan would lead the rushing column with 58 yards and a touchdown while also throwing for 133 yards an interception and a touchdown in the game. Gullow would standout among the Bulldogs on defense as he would record both Delhi interceptions.
“My older guys really played well, and the team is going in the direction I want it to. The win would have been nice, but we hung around and hung around and when we got our shot it just didn’t fall for us,” said coach Lorimer.
Bainbridge-Guilford (0-3) will host Deposit/Hancock next on Friday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m.
“If we have the energy we had this week, we will have another good game. It'll be another battle,” said coach Lorimer. “I thought we did a nice job getting our guys ready so we're going to try to do that again. This (Delhi) was a good test for us, but we need to get that win, we need to get there.”

BG: 6 11 0 0– 17
DEL: 15 6 0 0– 21