Following a quick turnaround after playing the previous Saturday against a ranked opponent, the Bears knew that they had another tough test Thursday against another top-15 team in No. 11 Co-Lin. And despite putting up a fight against the rival Wolves, the Bears could not get the consistency it needed, falling 38-7.

"First off, hats off to Co-Lin. They have a really good football team, they showed up with a great game plan," Southwest head coach Les George said. "As coaches we have to do better with a quick turnaround. When you play two nationally-ranked teams, we have to do a better job of recovering and preparing."

The Bears (2-3, 1-2 MACCC South) fell behind 7-0 a little more than halfway through the opening quarter as the Wolves scored on a 43-yard pass.

On the next Co-Lin offensive possession, a mistake hurt Southwest as a roughing the kicker call on a missed field goal gave the Wolves new life and they capitalized with a short touchdown run putting the Bears behind 14-0.

Later in the quarter, the deficit unfortunately grew for Southwest as a costly fumble led to a field goal as time expired in the first half, making it a 17-0 game.

The Bears found new life early in the third quarter as Charlie Fair led a 15-play, 75-yard drive which ate up 7:11 off the clock and wrapped with a two-yard touchdown pass from Fair to Chris Hunter pulling the Bears within 10 at 17-7.

The momentum stayed on the home side as JaeKwon Collins forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff which was recovered by Gary Bailey Jr. at the Wolves 37-yard line setting the Bears up with great field position. However the hosts were unable to capitalize as a negative play pushed the ball back before a long field goal was just missed.

Co-Lin scored on a 41-yard rush on the next drive putting the Bears behind the 8-ball, down 24-7.

The Bears continued to battle and got another turnover in the form of an interception by Skylar Husband but a three-and-out on the ensuing drive, unfortunately, gave the ball back to the visitors.

Another interception, this time by another sophomore in Donny Anderson, could not be capitalized as the offense had difficulty trying the move the ball again against the stingy Co-Lin defense.

Two additional scores on two of the next three Wolf drives resulted in the eventual final score.

Jalen Williams led the offense with 49 yards on the ground.

Defensively, BJ Mitchell once again led in tackles with yet another double-digit performance, finishing with 10, marking the third time in five games he recorded at least 10. Husband had eight tackles and an interception while Kaden Smith had
another good outing with five tackles and a sack.

Following next week's bye the Bears will be back in action on October 9 as they travel to Senatobia to face No. 7 Northwest at 7 p.m.