Bears set to host East Central to close out Homecoming 2014

The Southwest Bears celebrate Homecoming and go for their second straight win when they host MACJC South Division foe East Central Saturday at John I. Hurst Stadium.

Behind De' Angelo Ballard's three touchdowns, the Bears (2-4, 1-3) are coming off a 52-10 win at Coahoma. East Central's Warriors (3-4, 1-3) capped their Homecoming with a 14-7 defeat of then 20^th-ranked Jones County on the strength of Trey Sloan's 106-yard interception return for a touchdown

Southwest head coach Tucker Peavey said the Warriors "are a very fundamentally sound football team. They don't do a lot of fancy stuff, but they're good at what they do. They're playing hard and they've gotten better and better each week."

Peavey said for the Bears to pick up a win this week "we've got to stop their running game or slow it down anyway. Offensively, again, we've got to finish drives with points on the board. As (it) has been the last few weeks, one of the things we've got to be able to do is throw and catch the ball effectively."

Bears' offensive coordinator Jamie Everett said East Central's defense is "playing very well; they're really aggressive and very sound. They are a very-well coached unit."

Everett said "we've seen them a lot on film because it seems like whoever we play, (East Central) played a week or two before us. They're probably the most improved team from week one until now in the entire league."

Opponents are averaging 162.1 passing yards per game and 153 rushing yards against East Central. Asked if they Bears would throw everything at them and force them to stop his squad, Everett said "Like I say every week, we've got to do what we do. I don't think you can change up a whole lot on them."

Everett said the stats of East Central's opponents "are kind of misleading because they're only giving up (just over 300 yards per game) and their record's a lot like ours. But, the fact is if you go back and look at it, people aren't scoring a whole of lot of points against them (21.4 per game). They're doing a good job on defense and they've been snake-bit a couple of time; a few breaks here and there haven't gone their way. They're doing what they're supposed to do on defense; we've just got to make sure we're doing what we're supposed to do on offense."

Southwest defensive coordinator Kelby Bowman said the East Central offense is "a run offense (and) a multiple-formation offense. They're a two-tight, one-back offense."

He said "they're going to run the ball more than they're going to throw it. They're very effective (on the ground)," Bowman said. "We're just going to have to be prepared for the run first of all."

Led by sophomore Lamarcus Franks (5' 7", 142) who has 698 yards and two touchdowns on 128 carries, East Central is averaging 142.4 yards per game, but only 100.6 yards through the air. Quarterback Ethan Hamilton has completed 44 of 92 passes for 502 yards with four touchdowns and six interceptions.

Because of the balanced offense East Central brings to the game, Bowman was asked if he would put pressure on both aspects of the game and force the Warriors to beat his unit. He said, "No, I think you just prepare for what they do. I don't know how much we'll get to put pressure on them because of how effective they are in the running game. We just have to make sure we're fundamentally sound with the run. We have to make sure we line up to different formations. They're pretty consistent with the plays they run, but they're going to give to you in several different formations."

Bears' special teams coordinator Cam Achord said East Central is a "pretty sound team in all four facets of the game. They have a different long-snapper than they had earlier in the year. They're kind of changing what they do on punts. But, our guys are going to have to be able to recognize (what East Central is doing) and be ready for anything they see."

"We've got to bounce back on our kickoff return coverage unit this week," Achord went on, "They've got a pretty good return man (wide receiver Gary Triplett-5' 8", 155-is averaging 21.6 yards on11 returns) who's doing a good job back there for them. They've got a good scheme, so we've got to be able to cover the kick with speed and get down the field and hopefully pin them in and give our defense a chance on the field."

"Their kickoff coverage team does some twisting and different things and they do a pretty good job with what they do," Achord continued. "I think as long as we execute and handle our business on the field, we'll be alright."

The game is set to kickoff at 5:00 and can be heard on the radio on WAKK 1140AM as well as on the internet at southwestbearathletics.com and k106.net. It can also be heard on smart phones and tablets by downloading the k106 app.

The Homecoming court will be presented at halftime.

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Bears set to host East Central to close out Homecoming 2014