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Football Michael D. Gunnell, Southwest Sports Information

Bears to entertain Jones County

After two weeks on the road, the Bears return home Thursday night to host the Jones County Bobcats in an MACJC South Division contest.
 
The visitors enter the game 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the South after last week's 35-10 win over Co-Lin. The Bears are 0-4 (0-1 South) after a 36-19 setback at Northeast Mississippi.
 
Bears' head coach Tucker Peavey said the Bobcats are "an extremely talented team. They have great team speed everywhere (and) they're a big team. They play hard and we'll have to match that intensity that they come with."
 
However, Peavey said he feels his team is up to the challenge. "(Our players) know that Jones County is a good team coming in here," he said, "and they have continued to work hard. We've just got to execute and I think that's the emphasis of the week."
 
The keys to a Bears' win, Peavey said, are "Offensively, we need to score more points and to do that we've got to hang on to the ball and we've got to execute. Defensively, as always, we've got to prevent the big play and make them earn the scores that they get by having to run eight, ten, twelve plays in order to get the ball down the field and score."
 
The Bobcats come into the game giving up less than 200 yards passing and just over 100 yards rushing per game. "They fly around" said Bears' offensive coordinator Cam Achord. "They're a great defense and they play with lots of energy. They play a lot of man coverage, but they will get in a zone, just as a mix up."
 
Achord said he will "have a plan for both" and "we've just got to make the play when it comes to us. They'll give us opportunities, but we'll just have to make the play when it comes."
 
Achord reiterated that his offense will have to "get back to just making plays" in order to combat the Bobcats' defense. "Last week we struggled a little bit with that. When you go back and watch the film, it's us hurting ourselves and that's what we've got to continue to improve upon."
 
The Bobcats will "give you multiple formations," said Bears' defensive coordinator Kelby Bowman said. "They have two running backs who are good football players." Scott Phillips (5' 9", 205) has 355 yards and five touchdowns in four games while DeShawn Smith (5'7", 178) has totaled 303 yards and four scores in four games.
 
"But," Bowman continued, "We can't ignore the pass." He said the Bobcats "run a duel quarterback system. Both guys can throw the ball and run the ball." Chris Weaver (6', 223) and Detric Hawthorn (5' 9", 170) have combined to complete 32 of 84 passes for 614 yards with six touchdowns (and three interceptions).
 
Bowman said the Bears will face some players this week who are "probably the best group of opponents we've had (so far) this year." So, he said, "This week we've got to make sure we're back to our basics-being able to recognize formations, being able to recognize personnel, making sure we line up correctly, get our right checks in and making sure we're where we're supposed to be defensively."
 
Kickoff Thursday night at John I. Hurst Stadium is set for 7:00. The game can be heard on WAKH 105.7FM (K106), k106.net and southwestbearathletics.com.
 
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