Bears on the road to Coahoma

Two teams hungry for a win meet on the gridiron in Clarksdale Thursday night as the Southwest Bears visit the Coahoma Tigers in a non-divisional matchup.

The Bears (1-4, 1-3 South) enter the contest following last Thursday's 28-0 loss at Mississippi Gulf Coast. Coahoma (0-6, 0-4 North) suffered a 47-14 homecoming loss to Itawamba on Saturday.

Despite their record, Southwest head coach Tucker Peavey said the "schemes that they run, as well as the fact that they do have some good athletes" give him cause for concern in facing the Tigers. But, he also said "like every week, it's (this game) is more about us and what we do as opposed to what Coahoma does."

Asked for his key to a Bears' win Thursday night, Peavey said "I think we've got to score points on offense. That's something we've struggled to do the last couple of weeks and so we've got to get the ball across the goal line."

Southwest offensive coordinator Jamie Everett said the Tigers are "very multiple" on defense. "They play a lot of different fronts & coverages & blitzes," he said "and they're very active up front (with) a lot of twisting & stunting going on. So, you've got to prepare for a lot of different things.

The Tigers have struggled on defense, allowing 229.2 yards on the ground and over 260 via the pass. So, should fans expect to see the Bears throw both at them & force them to stop both? "Obviously, we're a lot better running team than we are a throwing team right now," Everett said. "So, I think at the end of the day you've got to do what you do. We've been able to throw the ball against some really good teams. But, the last few weeks we've struggled with it. So, hopefully we'll be able to run & throw. But, at the end of the day it just boils down to execution."

Everett was quick to answer when asked if he might try anything new against Thursday night because of the Tigers' defensive struggles. "No," said Coach Everett. "We're in a situation where we need to do what we do and we need to get better at it every day. We've got some young guys playing in a couple of spots and the thing about doing a lot of new stuff is it takes a lot of practice time. I'd rather get good at what we're going than add a bunch of stuff just for the sake of it."

Southwest defensive coordinator Kelby Bowman said the Tigers are a "well-balanced offense. I think they do a good job of protecting or blocking, running good routes. They can spread the ball out, one back situation and they can come back into two back. I think out of everybody we've played, they do a good job of multiple formations and executing all their plays in those formations."

Even though he feels they are a balanced team, Bowman said he felt the Tigers would "throw the ball more than they run it. They've got three receivers who go get it so we're going to have to be prepared."

Receivers Kshun Evans (6' 3", 190), Damecio Ewing (6' 1", 180) and James Hill (6' 2", 190) had a combined 60 receptions for 670 yards and five touchdowns going to the Itawamba game.

Heading into Thursday night, the Tigers are picking up over 180 yards passing but only 52.5 on the ground. Will Bowman focus mainly on stopping the pass? "Probably not mainly," he said, "We have to make sure we stop the run first and then focus on the pass."

Bowman said the Tigers have a good quarterback (Mickey Ridley-6' 3", 213) who has "the ability to extend the play and he can run it himself or he can get the ball down field. So, when it comes to that situation we just have to make sure that we are just staying fundamentally sound when it comes to the pass and the scramble drill." Ridley has completed 50 of 86 passes (58.1%) for 785 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions. He had also carried the ball 58 times for 204 yards and three scores.

The Bears' special teams coordinator Cameron Achord said of the Tigers. "Coahoma does a lot of different on their special teams units. They've got a pretty good kicker who also handles their punting duties (Cody Spears-6' 4", 230). He's got a really strong leg. He can put it in the end zone on his kickoffs and he can also boom some punts."
On their punt team, Achord said the Tigers do "a lot of multiple looks…so our guys have got to be locked in when they go out there and know which look they're getting so they can execute our return effectively."

"Their return game is pretty good," Achord continued. "They've got a pretty good guy back there (Ewing is averaging 15.7 yards on 24 kickoff returns). So, we've just got to have a good game and do what we do effectively and cover the kicks and return the ball and we'll be ok."

Kickoff is set for 7:00 Thursday night at James E. Miller Stadium. Fans can hear the game on the radio on WAKH 105.7FM (K106). The game can also be heard on the internet at southwestbearathletics.com and k106.net as well as on smart phones and tablets (by downloading the k106 app).

The game can also be seen live by going to www.coahomasports.com/watch.

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Bears on the road to Coahoma