Under the Cliff Collins regime, the Bears have competed hard both times against the East Central Warriors. In 2021, they narrowly lost to the Warriors at home 21-13 before rebounding and pulling out a hard-fought 24-20 win last year.
 
Now the Bears are hoping to create a win streak as they play host to their MACCC South Division opponents Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
 
"They are a good football team, new head coach, new regime," Collins said. "They are playing hard for Coach (Jonathan) Webster and they are going in the right direction."
 
The Bears and Warriors endured similar paths to get here. Both enter the contest with the same record (1-3 overall, 0-2 in MACCC South) and both won their opening contests in convincing fashion. However, while the Warriors have already played two games at home, Thursday's marks just the second on the season thus far for the Bears.
 
In order the pull out the win, the Bears know that they will be presented with a challenge. The Warriors are led by quarterback Chris Tucker who has completed 50-percent of his passes with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
 
Devontae Causey leads the Warrior rushing attack with 200 yards and a touchdown on 51 carries.
 
The Bears counter with a young offense led by quarterback Amarien Jefferson, starting only his third game as the Southwest signal caller. Like Jefferson, who entered the fray in relief of an injured starter, Keeghan Rodgers and Tyler Reed have stepped up and shared running back duties for the Bears. All three have put together strong performances thus far.
 
The Bear receiving corps will also be a bit short-handed as Damarrco Blanton suffered an injury last week against Co-Lin and will not suit up Thursday. In his absence, Ty Moore, Jeremiah Ratliff, La'Jarion Martin and an emerging Demarcus Brown have all elevated their respective games.
 
As far as his defense, Collins believes that his group is ready for the challenge that the Warriors present.
 
"Their offensive scheme is a new scheme with Offensive Coordinator Coach (Devin) Fosselman," Collins said. "He was a guy who played at Mississippi State and he is actually from Wilkinson County. They are going to run a similar-type pro-style offense that's going to slow it down."
 
Overall, Collins believes that East Central's 1-3 record is a misconception of how good the Warriors are.
 
Despite a tough loss against Co-Lin last week, the Bears have already put it in the rear-view mirror and have shifted their focus to East Central.
 
"We're good, we're pumped, we got back into the film room on Friday and put away the Co-Lin game. The guys came back on Sunday and got ready to roll. We had a great practice Sunday and Monday was a good practice and probably one of our best of the year."
 
And even though the Bears came up short against the Bulldogs and the Wolves over the past two weeks, Collins definitely believes that the arrow is pointing in the right direction with his team and he looks for it to translate to continued stellar play and a victory on Thursday.
 
The Bears and the Warriors kick off at 6:30 p.m. at John I. Hurst Stadium.