Bears to host East Central for Homecoming, season finale

The Bears will try to close out the 2016 football season, as well as their annual Homecoming celebration, with a bang Saturday night as they host the East Central Warriors.

The Bears enter the game with a 2-6 overall record (1-4 in the MACJC South) after a 30-20 loss at Co-Lin. East Central comes in at 4-4 overall and, at 4-1, in first place in the South, after a 20-14 loss at Northwest.

After eight games, the Warriors' defense is giving up over 240 yards through the air and over 145 on the ground. "I don't know what those numbers reflect," said Bears' head coach Tucker Peavey, "but, I can tell you this-East Central has a very good, very sound and solid defense that creates turnovers. So, we certainly have to get back to not turning the ball over."

For the Bears to put up big numbers, Peavey said, "We're going to have to keep running the ball. I think that's the key. But, then, we've got to get back to the way we were the previous couple of weeks in the passing game and take what the defense gives us and throw and catch and protect the quarterback."

Other than eliminating turnovers, what does Peavey see as the key to a Bears' victory? "We have to finish drives," he said, "possess the ball and when (we) get down into the red zone, (we) have to come away with points. The ultimate objective for any offense is to get points, but, when you don't, the other team is going to make some plays."

With Homecoming and the last game of the season, there are always outside distractions. In a sense, the Bears will deal with that by not dealing with it. "We'll just go through our (normal) routine," Peavey said. "You can't deny what's going on with Homecoming and the kids need to be a part of it. We don't want to isolate them from all of that stuff that's going on so we'll just go through our regular routine and be ready to play at kickoff."

Offensively, the Warriors are fairly balanced in their passing and running games, putting up just over 160 yards via the pass while totaling just over 200 on the ground. Defensive coordinator Kelby Bowman said the key to trying to hold those numbers down is preparation.

"You always have a few extra days (of practice) when you're playing Saturday games, which is great. They (the Warriors) give a lot of looks on offense and they're very effective as far as execution. We just have to make sure we prepare. We'll try to take away the things they do best."

The Warriors' offense is led by quarterback Dominic Marino (6' 2", 190) and running back Dwayne Barnett (5' 6", 193). Marino has completed 91 of 166 passes for
1, 283 yards with 20 touchdowns (he has been picked off six times) while Barnett has carried the ball 160 times for 730 yards with eight scores.

The Bears will have to deal with the duo by being "sound across the board defensively," said Bowman. "Both of those kids are good football players. We've watched them on film and they can run and I think they fit their offense."

Bowman said "As far as the run, we just have to make sure we're sound in gap responsibility. (The Warriors) are very athletic on their offensive line; they do a couple of things to give those guys a chance to be effective in what they're doing offensively" so he said the Bears will have to be sure "we're gap-sound and make sure we tackle."

"They quarterback's got the ability to pull the ball and he's just as effective as the running back (Marino has run for 378 yards and a touchdown) so, here again, (we have to) make sure we cover all our bases even on backside runs when the quarterback has a chance to pull it and run it. (We have to be) fundamentally sound, making sure everybody does their job."

The game is set for a 5:00 kickoff at John I. Hurst Stadium. It will be broadcast on WAKK 1140AM and on the internet at southwestbearathletics.com and k106.net

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Bears to host East Central for Homecoming, season finale