Bears on the road to Pearl River

Two teams in much need of a win meet on the gridiron Thursday night in Poplarville as the Bears visit the Pearl River Wildcats. Both teams enter the night with a 1-4 overall mark. The Bears are 0-2 in the MACJC South while the Wildcats at 1-1.

In their past two games (vs. Northeast and Jones County), the Bears held the lead at halftime, but were unable to hold it in the second half. To change that, head coach Tucker Peavey said his team will have to "play with consistency."

With lack of depth a problem for the Bears, Peavey said to hold on to a lead, "the guys who get in the game will have to be able to keep up the same level of play as the ones they're replacing. (And) at the end of the day, we've just got to do the little things right for four quarters."

Despite the overall record, Peavey said he thinks his team is "playing hard. I don't think it's an effort issue, I think it's a depth issue." Also, he said, "Even when things are going good, we've got to eliminate some careless mistakes."

The Wildcats come into the game giving up just over 382 yards of offense (161 on the ground, 221.4 via the pass) and, despite their record, the Bears have been moving the ball well most nights (averaging just over 331 yards per contest). So, is Peavey optimistic the Bears will be able to move the ball Thursday night? "Sure I'm optimistic," he said. "I think we've made some big improvements offensively the past few weeks. Again, you've got to go on to the next game and execute and I think that's the key. Pearl River's played some really good offensive football teams."

"They've very sound on defense (and) they're very aggressive," Peavey continued, "and we'll have to do the little things right and execute fundamental football to be able to move the ball offensively."

Peavey's keys to victory? "You've got to play four quarters and you've got to hold up for four quarters." Peavey said. Offensively and defensively, the Bears "have got to be able to win at the line of scrimmage. We win up front and we'll have a chance to win the game."

The Wildcats' strength, offensively, lies in their ground game. Darious Leggett (6' 1", 185) leads the way with 112.4 yards per game (with seven touchdowns) for a unit that is totaling 191.4 yards. With the pass, the Wildcats are totaling 155.4 yards a night.

Bears' defensive coordinator Kelby Bowman said the Wildcats' numbers on the ground "won't change what we have to do as a defensive unit. Week in and week out, you've got to make sure you're good in all phases of the game-offense, defense and special teams. On defense, you have to make sure you can control the run and the pass."

"They have a couple of guys in the backfield who are good runners," Bowman said of this week's opponents. "They also have a passing game," he said, "and they're very athletic at receiver and the quarterbacks can throw the ball."

Matthew Eaton leads the Wildcats receiving corps with 23 catches for 206 yards. Timothy Arnold and Andrew Dunn have combined to complete 52 of 96 passes for 595 yards and six touchdowns (they have been intercepted seven times).

To keep the Wildcats' running game in check, Bowman said the Bears' defense will "have to be able to be a team that can tackle. If think if you're a good team that can tackle, I don't think it's a matter of getting to the ball carrier, it's just a matter of making a play when you get to him."

"It's the same with the receivers," Bowman concluded. "They're going to catch balls, they're going to make plays and we just have to make sure we don't allow them to hit big plays on us, big runs and big passes."

The game is set for a 6:00 kickoff at Dobie Holden Stadium. Fans can listen to the game on the radio on WAKH 105.7FM (K106), on the internet at southwestbearathleics.com and k106.net and on smartphones (download the k106 app).

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Bears on the road to Pearl River