BAINBRIDGE - A stroke of early good fortune propelled Bainbridge-Guilford to a 16-0 shutout victory over Beaver River, Friday night in the Bobcats’ season-opener.

The Bobcats lost the opening coin flip, and head coach Israel Lorimer instructed his kicker to squib a low bounced kick.

The idea was to limit any sort of long return by Beaver River. The kick, though, was booted up the middle, caromed off a Beaver River player, and ended in B-G’s possession.

That unintentional onsides kick led to a short TD drive capped by Ethan Beames’ 23-yard TD pass to Declyn Marshfield.

“We scored on our first drive, which was huge,” Lorimer said. “We spit and sputtered for a while, then got a big pass that led to another score.”

A big pass reception by Ethan Gregory led to Nolan Hawkins’ 33-yard field goal. During that drive, another TD pass was called back due to penalty, which forced the field goal attempt.

B-G drove again for a last-minute first-half touchdown. Again, a TD was called back by penalty, the Bobcats overcame that mistake as Beames dashed six yards for the score giving B-G a 16-0 halftime lead.

“Beaver River did not invade the B-G red zone (20-yard line) during the game, and Lorimer only recalled two instances where the visitors penetrated the Bobcats’ 30.

Beaver River finished with just 120 yards of total offense, and B-G’s defense forced four turnovers.  Tony Ladd had a team-high eight tackles to go with one interception.