Bears end 2015 at home against Hinds

The Southwest Bears look to end the 2015 season on a high note Thursday night when they host the Hinds Eagles at 7:00 in John I. Hurst Stadium.

The Bears enter the contest with a 3-5 overall record (1-4 in the MACJC's South Division) following a 47-17 loss at East Central. The Eagles come in at 5-3 and 3-2 after a 38-13 home win over Jones County.

Bears' head man Tucker Peavey said the Eagles are "a very athletic team offensively and defensively. They do a good job of offense, running and throwing the ball. Defensively, they're very sound and solid. They don't do a lot of stuff, but what they do they do well."

The Eagles bring a well-balanced defense to Summit, giving up 157 yards rushing and just over 158 passing per game. In order for the Bears to move the ball, Peavey said his team will "have to be able to throw and catch the ball. We'll see where the injuries are at running back (for the Bears) and who we have available for the game. But, I think, at the end of the day we've got to try to be balanced as well and don't let them (the Eagles) overplay the run or just back off and play pass all the time."

"We'll have to execute on offense," Peavey went on, "and I think it's one of those deals when you're going to have to put multiple plays together and drive the ball and score on them."

With the last game on tap and no playoff spot on the line, how does Peavey motivate the players? "I think our players know exactly what's going on with us this year and they've gone out and played hard every game. It's the next opponent on the schedule and the last opportunity to go out and compete. So, the (motivation is) it's the last home game at Southwest for the sophomores."

The Eagles will have one of the better defenses the Bears have faced this season, picking up over 235 yards rushing and almost 200 yards via the air each contest. Knowing this, what is the game plan for Bears' defensive coordinator Kelby Bowman?

"As usual," he said, "we want to make sure we establish ourselves first. In practice, we have to make sure we play close attention to alignments (and) assignments and make sure we're doing everything fundamentally."

Bowman said the Eagles' running game (led by TR page who has 529 yards and five touchdowns on 88 carries) is not as complicated as most teams, but when you're dealing with athletes you have to make sure you are where you're supposed to be defensively and that you make tackles."

"Of course," Bowman went on, "they have a couple of good quarterbacks who can throw the ball and can run the ball, so our objective is to try to maintain the quarterback and maintain their run game."

Page (6' 2", 195) has spent some time at quarterback along with Jaquez Parks (6' 1", 205). Parks has carried the ball 50 times for 103 yards with four touchdowns.

"Week in and week out," Bowman said, "this league is pretty much the same-you're going to face some good teams on Thursday or Saturday. As for us, we just have to make sure that we make sure that our preparation is serious and that everybody is on the same page and we can't make the same mistakes that we've made in the past and shoot ourselves in the foot, so to speak. We have to make sure we're fundamentally sound and that we execute and that, most of all, we're making tackles and hustling to the ball.

The game can be heard on the radio on WAKH 105.7FM (K106). It will also be available on the internet at southwestbearathletics.com and k106.net as well as on smart phones (download the k106 app).

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Bears end 2015 at home against Hinds