Bears drop 22-10 decision at Itawamba

Whether it was the five-hour bus ride, the lingering effects of the layoff caused by Hurricane Isaac or both, the Southwest Bears took one on the chin Thursday night in Fulton as they opened their 2012 season with a 22-10 loss to host Itawamba.

Southwest got off to a good start in the first quarter, running 26 plays to the Indians’ eight, and scoring the only points of the half. Taking the ball on their own 48, the Bears went on top 3-0 on Paul Johnson’s 26-yard field goal, with 2:08 on the clock, to cap a 13-play drive. But, after that, the Bears seemed to tire as the game continued.

The third quarter belonged to the Indians (2-0) as they scored all their points to take a commanding 22-3 lead. Courtney Gladney put Itawamba on the board with 12:23 to play when he scored on a one-yard scamper into the end zone. Tyler Jackson’s kicked the extra point to make the score 7-3.

LaDarrell Hunt’s touchdown run from two yards out, along with Jackson’s PAT, increased the Itawamba lead to 14-3 Itawamba with 5:05 remaining in the quarter. The Indians scored their final points of the game, with 1:15 on the clock in the third quarter, when Xavier Walker recovered a Southwest fumble and returned it 61yards to the end zone. Jackson passed to Terrell Pinson for the two-point conversion to make the score 22-3 heading into the final stanza.

Southwest picked up the final points of the night when a Brennan Dunklin interception was followed by an eight-yard Turner Easterbrook to Jerome Stewart touchdown pass with 11:14 left in the game. Johnson booted the extra point to make the score 22-10, but that was as close as the Bears would get as they fell to 0-1 on the season.

“I thought we came ready to play,” said Southwest head coach Charles Anthony. “We played really well in the first quarter. (But) midway through the second quarter, fatigue stepped in. My biggest concern (prior to the game) was losing conditioning (because of the layoff caused by the hurricane). Once it fatigue set in, we started making mistakes.”

“I thought we came back and did some good things in the second half,” Anthony continued. “We moved the ball, but we just didn’t move it consistently. Defensively, our biggest problem was we didn’t tackle very well.”

The Bears finished the game with 117 yards on the ground and 107 through the air. Laderick Turner paced the Bears rushing game with 51 yards on 19 carries. Schyler Walker completed 14 of 26 passes for 82 yards before leaving the game with an injury. He was intercepted once. Easterbrook completed three of four passes for 25 yards and a touchdown. Stewart caught eight passes for 46 yards and a score while Renard Williams had four catches for 22 yards.

Defensively, Jose Patterson recorded 11 tackles on the night for Southwest. Tony Johnson had eight tackles and a sack while Dunklin, Tyler Gilbert and Raheem Robinson all notched seven stops. Dunklin added a sack as did Joe Phillips. Justin Holt averaged 40.7 yards on nine punts.

The Indians totaled 323 yards of total offense. Quarterback Andrew Goodman led the way with 288 yards on 32 of 46 passing.

Southwest returns to action on September 13 when they host the defending national champions, East Mississippi. Kickoff is set for 7:00 at John I. Hurst Stadium. The Lions (2-0) defeated East Central 51-7 Thursday.

In other MACJC action Thursday night, Hinds defeated Coahoma 41-13, Northwest defeated Co-Lin 42-21, Gulf Coast beat Holmes 46-12 and Pearl River prevailed over Mississippi Delta 44-29.

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Bears drop 22-10 decision at Itawamba