Bears hit the road for last time in 2015

The Southwest Bears look to even their record at 4-4 today when they travel to Decatur to face the 20^th-ranked East Central Warriors in Bailey Stadium.

The Bears, 1-3 in the MACJC South Division, come into the game after a 17-10 overtime Homecoming win over Coahoma. The Warriors, celebrating their Homecoming Saturday, are 5-2 and 2-2 after a 14-6 win last week at Jones County.

Southwest head coach Tucker Peavey said the Warriors "play sound (and) hard. They seem like they're a smart football team and don't give up big plays (or) make mistakes that are hard to overcome."

Going into their game at Jones County, the Warriors were allowing less than 285 yards of total offense per game. They held Jones County to under 200 yards.

In order for the Bears to move the ball, Peavey said the team has "got to do the things that we've been doing, but when we have those chances for big plays, the play makers have to make (them)."

"They're a kind of 'bend, but don't break' defense," Peavey continued. "I think we're going to have to understand that we've got to go out and execute 12-14 play drives and finish them with touchdowns."

As far as the keys to the game, Peavey said cannot turn the ball over on offense and cannot have "a lot of those self-imposed mistakes and (have to) be consistent and just play hard. Our kids have played hard every game. We deal with all these injuries and the next guy's stepping up and doing everything he can do. So we've got to keep that mentality and play the best that we can play for four quarters and let's see what happens."

Offensively, the Warriors are averaging over 150 yards per game through the air and over 180 per game on the ground. Because of this, Bears' defensive coordinator Kelby Bowman said his unit has "to be balanced defensively, also. But, our main focus has to be the run (because) they're run percentage in a lot higher than their pass percentage."

Bowman said the Warriors "want to establish the run game first. They're a multiple formation team. They have three good tight ends and a good receiver and a good tailback and they have the ability to line up in a lot of different looks. So, we're going to have to make sure we adjust to them offensively and our first priority is to stop the run."

The game is set for a 2:30 kickoff and can be heard on the radio on WAZA 107.7FM. It can also be heard on the internet at southwestbearathletics.com and k106.net and also on smart phones (by downloading the k106 app).

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Bears hit the road for last time in 2015