A well-rested Southwest Bears team is aiming to kick off the second half of the 2025 season on the right foot Thursday in a road contest against No. 7 Northwest. Both the Bears and the Rangers are coming off of the conference-wide bye week.
Northwest (4-1) last played on Sept. 25, defeating Northeast 34-27 while Southwest (2-3) fell to Co-Lin 38-7 the same night.
Thursday's contest marks just the fifth meeting between the two schools since 2011. The Bears took the Rangers to the limit last season before losing a heart-breaker 23-20 in Summit. The game is also the longest road trip of the season for Southwest with a three-and-a-half-hour travel time one way.
Southwest will be looking to slow down a Northwest offense led by quarterback Neko Fann who has 789 yards and five touchdowns through five games this year. The duo of Britten Traylor and Keon Hutchins highlight the pass catchers with 312 and 226 yards, respectively.
On the ground, the Rangers are led by Julius Pope who has 395 yards and five touchdowns. As a team, Northwest is second in the conference in scoring with 35.6 points per game.
The Bears continue to rely on a potent rushing attack led by the sophomore duo of Jalen Williams (85 car. 477 yds 3 TD) and Chris Hunter (48 car. 258 yds 5 TD). Freshman Will Smith and sophomores Gavin Brown and Keeghan Rodgers have also had important roles in the Bear rushing attack.
Through the air, the duo of Charlie Fair and Silas Corder lead the passing attack. The receiving corps has four pass-catchers with at least nine receptions on the year, led by Isaiah Jones who has 11 for 163 yards.
Sophomore linebacker BJ Mitchell continues to shine for the Bears and has led in tackles each week. Thus far he has 43 which is fourth-highest in the conference.
The Bears and the Rangers kick off Thursday at 7 p.m. from Ranger Stadium at Bobby Franklin Field in Senatobia. The game will be broadcast live on BearTV at
https://go.smccbears.tv/.