The Airport Eagles ended their three-game losing streak to the Brook-land Cayce Bearcats this past Sunday.

The stakes in this long-running rivalry may have never been higher, and the game lived up to the hype.

Originally scheduled for a Friday, the game was rescheduled due to the weather that forced many midlands high school games to move their kickoff times. A Sunday kickoff may seem strange to many Friday night purists, but the crowd at Brookland-Cayce this past Sunday afternoon proved that fans would come regardless of the date.

Airport and Brookland-Cayce met earlier in the season, with a double-digit win going to the Bearcats. Emotions between the Eagles and Bearcats got heated after that game at Eagle Stadium.

Sunday’s game proved difficult early for the Eagles, falling behind the Bearcats 14-0 in the first quarter. For the third consecutive week, Airport was able to force four turnovers that allowed them to tie the game.

The Eagles and Bearcats traded scores, until a Reed Charpia fumble allowed Airport quarterback Brandon Caughman score on a short field to take a 28-21 lead into halftime.

Caughman injured his lower back in the third quarter of the contest and backup Markco Gilmore was tasked with keeping the offense afloat. He extended the lead to 35-27 with a touchdown run in the third quarter.

Airport iced the 35-27 win on an interception by Isaiah Walker-Warren with just over two minutes remaining.

With a win, Airport clinched a share of the Region 5-4A title with North Augusta. Because of the head-to-head tiebreaker (North Augusta defeated Airport 28-10 on Oct. 5), the Eagles will open the playoffs at home Nov. 9 against an opponent to be determined.

The opponent will be determined based on the outcome of the Marlboro/North Myrtle Beach game this Friday.

The win over B-C capped an impressive bounce back season for Kirk Burnett and his Eagles’ team.

“I’ve pretty much had the whole staff the last 15 years and every time we have a couple of bad seasons, we bounce back,” he said. “Our guys don’t jump ship. They’re head coaches in other sports, so our coaches know that sometimes you’re going to have tough years and it’s a testament to them of how hard they work, knowing that we can bounce back from year to year.”