A pride of Lakeside Lions clawed and gnashed their way through a cutthroat football contest Friday in the Bainbridge High varsity team’s last home game of the regular season, to sail home scarred but satisfied — and ahead 21-19.

It was the Spartans who were left to lick their wounds.

The visitors scored almost immediately and led throughout the contest, despite significant gains by the island team and some of what team officials called the best Spartan football of the season so far.

And if just a few key moments went a little differently, the night would have ended otherwise, BHS Head Coach Andy Grimm said after Friday’s loss.

“I really liked the way the kids played,” Grimm said. “They played hard all the way through.

“There was some sloppy stuff, I think, on both sides,” he added. “I think part of that is both teams were tired at times.”

The initial drive after kickoff put the Spartans within 10 yards of the zone, but Lakeside managed an 82-yard run after an interception barely two minutes into the game to score the first touchdown of the night.

Momentarily shaken, the Spartans seemed to gather themselves quickly and regrouped, but the visitors continued to push and upped the score to 14-0 after a short drive with just over six minutes left to go in the quarter.

A 65-yard run by Spartan superstar Eric Jung with about five minutes left put the island team in place to get themselves on the board then, and he made good on the promise soon after, scoring the first BHS touchdown at 4:27 in the first stanza.

The kick was wide, and the score sat 14-6 Lakeside at the quarter’s end.

In the second, Lakeside snuck through a reception with 6:04 remaining and made good on the kick to leave things 21-6 at the half.

In the third, Jung again brought one home for the Spartans, a 16-yard run at the 8:14 mark, to bring the score to 21-12.

Spartan senior Aiden Carlisle scored the team’s third touchdown with 3:20 to go in the third, on an end zone reception from quarterback Riley Dunn.

The kick was good, and the game reached what would be the final score, 21-19, with still a whole quarter to go.

The fourth saw the Spartans in range several times, but ultimately neither team was able to change the lights on the scoreboard before the game’s end.

“We kept it close in the second half,” Grimm said afterward. “Some mistakes cost us some penalties that earlier took us out of range, where we probably could have got some points, either [through a] field goal or a touchdown.”

The second half recovery was not so much a result of Lakeside being over confident, Grimm explained, as it was Bainbridge finding their own groove.

“I just think we played well,” he said. “I think we thought they were going to try to clamp things down more because we had such a good running game last week.

“So we had some short passes that were long gains,” Grimm added. “That eventually opened the running game. What we were trying to do there was spread them out and run in the middle.”

Friday’s game was also Senior Night, which saw 13 Spartans recognized including Warren Dressor, Matt Reltien, Jack Frickleton, Carter Daniels, Carlisle, Nick Nordberg, Sam Wysong, Lucas Weyand, Mitch Hobbs, Devon Turner, Joseph Cibula, Astolfo Reuda and Jospin Omatete.

The departure of so many skilled seniors was a pretty typical annual blow to the program, Grimm said, but it by no means made the loss any easier.

“Last year we didn’t have bodies [and] this year we have bodies. They’re just not ready – those kids aren’t necessarily ready – for varsity action,” he said, adding that the senior squad members’ greatest attribute collectively was resilience.

“When you look out there, you’ve got [13] of them, four of them are hurt [tonight] so that takes you down to eight [senior] guys,” Grimm said Friday. “Six of those are probably playing almost every play. It’s positive for the future because you’re playing, really, only six seniors on the field all the time so there’s some youth out there.

“Those younger kids are stepping up and we knew they’d probably have to,” he added. “I’d always kind of thought, just say [nobody] got hurt, I kind of had a feeling some of these sophomores would be in the mix for us mid-season – and we’re at week five – because they’re game savvy, they understand the game. They’re fearless.”

The final home game of the regular season saw several stellar performances by some of the same Spartan standouts.

Wysong led the team’s rushing efforts with 25 carries for 103 yards. Jung finished 11 carries for 66 yards, Dunn managed five-for-22, Nordberg one-for-20 and Coltrane Brooks chipped in two carries for 13 yards.

Jung was the prime BHS receiver, by far, with six receptions for 149 yards.

Carlilse managed, including the team’s final touchdown, three receptions for 32 yards.

Defensively, Ben McDonald led the island pack with nine solo and two assisted tackles.

Kyle Bierly managed 10 solo tackles and Sam Roth had seven solo tackles as well. Wysong finished the night with five solo and one assist. Keagan Barnes-Grant, in addition to a 12-yard interception (his second impressive snatch in two weeks), chipped in six solo tackles.

The league loss dropped the BHS squad’s season record to 1-4 so far this year (1-2 conference), leaving them ranked in 10th place in the Metro standings.

Bainbridge shares the same conference record as West Seattle (2-3 overall), Chief Sealth (1-5), Rainier Beach (2-3) and – after Friday – Lakeside (2-2).

Eastside Catholic holds the top spot, with a perfect 5-0 season record.

The Spartans will face their final three opponents of the regular season on the road, beginning with O’Dea at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19 at West Seattle Stadium, and then Seattle Prep at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16 at the same venue.

The year’s final regular season game is slated to be against Evergreen at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23 at Highline Memorial Stadium.