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Anthony Positive About Bear Football
Thomas Morgan

Football Michael D. Gunnell, Southwest Sports Information

Bears look to finally get 2012 football season underway

With Hurricane Isaac behind them, the Southwest Bears look to finally get the 2012 season underway Thursday night as they visit the Itawamba Indians in Fulton. Itawamba defeated East Central 35-13 last Saturday on a rain-soaked field in Decatur.
 
With school dismissed and some players away from campus due to the storm, Southwest head coach Charles Anthony said the delay in opening the season will definitely have an effect on his players because “(The players) haven’t done anything for a week and we weren’t able to get them (those who had left) back until Sunday night. Usually, the biggest improvements are made from game one to game two.”
 
Anthony said that because the players have been unable to practice he is “more concerned about conditioning than anything else right now.” But, on the plus side, he said he had “guys who were banged up have had a little extra time to heal.”
 
Defensively, Anthony said Itawamba mixes a “three man and four man front. They’ve got some very athletic secondary guys and, I’ve heard, they have a transfer linebacker from TCU.”
 
The Indians, holding East Central to 284 yards of total offense, were paced by sophomore linebacker Brandon Smith (6’, 200). Smith finished the game with eight tackles, one tackle for loss, a sack, a fumble recovery and an interception.  Freshman defensive back Xavier Walker (6’ 4”, 185) also had eight tackles and an interception while lineman Fred Ward (6’ 4”, 230) recorded six tackles and a sack and recovered two fumbles.
 
Offensively, Anthony said Itawamba tries “to create a balance between the running game and the passing game. He said they have got “four running backs they rotate and (they) feel good about all of them. They’ve got four really good receivers including one (Sanford Seay-6’ 2”, 200) who’s a transfer from the University of Georgia and one who’s a transfer from the University of Alabama (Ronald Carswell-6’, 180).”
 
Freshman quarterback Andrew Goodman (6’ 3”, 215) connected with receiver Rashad Pargo for three touchdowns in the game (Pargo had six catches for 108 yards) while Demarius Howard had three catches for 98 yards and a score. Anthony said Goodman completed 31 of 37 passes. 
 
Despite not playing last week and Itawamba “having a game under their belt to eliminate mistakes”, Anthony said his team definitely could still win the game. He said it could happen “one, if we protect the ball; two, if we haven’t lost our conditioning; (and) three, if we play well in the kicking game.”
 
Kickoff for the game is set for 7:00 on Itawamba’s Eaton Field. A Southwest win would give the Bears their fourth straight season-opening victory. The game can be heard on WAKH 105.7 (K106). It can also be heard via the internet at k106.net and southwestbearathletics.com. Anyone with a smart phone can also listen by downloading the “Tune In” app and searching for  K106.
 
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