POPLARVILLE - The Bears were hoping to kick off the home stretch of the regular season Thursday by spoiling Pearl River's Homecoming. But struggles early on and costly turnovers became too much to overcome as Southwest fell 35-14.
 
"We just have to play better. The team that shows up and is ready to play is the one that is going to win the football game," Southwest head coach Cliff Collins said. "Hats off to Pearl River, they were ready to play and we didn't play well enough to win this football game."
 
Another key factor that hurt the Bears (1-7, 0-6) was turnovers as the Wildcats were the more opportunistic team, taking advantage of multiple Southwest giveaways. 
 
"You can't turn the football over (multiple times) and win any football game," Collins said. "When you turn the football over and three of them go for points, that can't happen."
 
The Bears found themselves down 7-0 after the first turnover, a fumble, which was scooped up and returned 10 yards for a score by the Wildcats.
 
After both teams traded two more possessions apiece, Pearl River increased its lead early in the second quarter following a 12-play, 61-yard drive that wrapped with a short touchdown run.
 
Following two additional drives where the Bear offense couldn't find its rhythm, the Wildcats got a third score, this time through the air on a 33-yard touchdown pass.
 
On just the second play of the ensuing drive, Southwest got its first of two touchdowns on the night as Amarien Jefferson hooked up with Ty Moore on a 55-yard touchdown pass and with the Lyndell Boatman PAT, the Bears cut into the Wildcats' lead making it a 21-7 contest.
 
Early in the third quarter, the Bears appeared to be close to scoring once again as they had the ball down in the red zone. But an errant pass was picked off and returned 97 yards for a pick six, once again putting Southwest down by three scores.
 
The Bears continued to fight but another Pearl River touchdown with just over 2:00 to go in the third quarter put Southwest further behind the 8-ball.
 
About halfway through the fourth quarter, Southwest got its second score as Jefferson took it in from 12 yards out.
 
From there, Pearl River grabbed one more first down before running the clock out and handing Southwest the loss.
 
Jefferson led the Bears with 244 yards and a touchdown on 14-of-25 passing. On the ground, he added another score.
 
Defensively Danarius Hilliard and Jeffery Polk Jr both had strong outings with 12 and 9 tackles, respectively.
 
Southwest wraps the regular season Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at home against Holmes.