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Tyler Shell
jucoweekly.org

Football Michael D. Gunnell, Southwest Sports Information

Bears open 2015 tonight at top-ranked East Mississippi

The Southwest Bears face a daunting task to open the 2015 season as they travel to Scooba to face the East Mississippi Lions tonight. The Lions top the 2015 NJCAA pre-season poll, have won three of the past four NJCAA national titles and come into the game on a 24-game winning streak.
 
With freshmen making up the majority of his roster, does Bears'   head coach Tucker Peavey have any major concerns about the game? "No. I think they all know what we're going to face and they're very familiar with East Mississippi and their success so I don't think there's any way to hide that."
 
But, Peavey said "You just don't know how you're going to handle it. Hopefully, it's something they look forward to as an opportunity for them to get out and compete against a very good team and, obviously, a good football program."
 
Offensively, Peavey said fans Thursday night will see "the same basic team we've always been. We're going to try to be a balanced offense, run and pass." Looking at the Lions' defense, he said, "East Mississippi is very fast and athletic everywhere on defense so they're going to put a lot of pressure (on us) and do a lot of moving and take advantage of their athletic ability to run the ball down."
 
Looking at the keys to the game, Peavey said he thinks it is "the same every week-defensively, we're got to eliminate giving up big plays; offensively, don't turn the ball over and be very sound in special teams."
 
"I don't think you approach the game any differently because of who you're playing," Peavey concluded. "It's just against the good teams whenever you make those kinds of mistakes (that) it really shows up."
 
Bears' defensive coordinator Kelby Bowman said that for the past few years the Lions have "been a one-back, throw it (team) with the ability to run it. So, (I expect) pretty much the same thing (tonight). I expect them to come out and try to establish a passing game. Of course, they'll have a good player at quarterback and several good players at receiver." If that does not work, Bowman said, "They always have the ability to run the ball."
 
Bowman said the key for his unit Thursday night will be "first of all that we get lined up correctly. They (the Lions) have the ability to go fast-paced which can sometimes catch the defense off guard. Once we get lined up correctly, then everything else is just fundamentals and, hopefully, our kids can make plays."
 
"You won't be able to stop them," Bowman said of the Lions. "We just hope we can slow them down and try to take away some of the things that we think they like to do the most."
 
The game is set to kick off at 7:00 on Windham-Sullivan Field on the East Mississippi campus in Scooba. Southwest fans can hear the action on WAKH 105.7 FM (K106), k106.net or southwestbearathletics.com or by using the k106 app on your smart phone.
 
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