Nemo Sowders, Glendarious Ford, Miles Bass, Bernard Lackey, and Kaiden Street
Southwest Mississippi Football traveled to Decatur on Thursday, October 29th to take on East Central in the final game of the season.
A defensive battle led to a slow first half for both teams as the Bears took a 3-0 lead into the halftime break after a Simon Naylor field goal early in the second quarter.
The Bear defense came out of the half roaring with a safety on the first play from scrimmage as Bernard Lackey sacked the quarterback in the endzone to move the score to 5-0 favoring Southwest.
A few possessions of punts later and East Central had the ball on the Bears 15-yard line.
With the Warriors on the front door, Bernard Lackey got to the quarterback and forced a fumble that he returned for an 85-yard touchdown to put the Bears up 12-0 over East Central 5:02 left in the third quarter, his second fumble return touchdown of the season.
East Central answered back shortly after with a 60-yard kickoff return followed by a touchdown the very next play to move the score to 12-7 still in favor of the Bears.
The Southwest offense still could not gain any traction after a turnover on downs left East Central with the ball around midfield.
East Central went down and scored to take a 13-12 lead with 8:47 left in the game.
Southwest had one more possession to try and take the lead back but another turnover on downs ended their hopes as the Warriors got the ball back and ran out the clock, ending the Bears season.
Miles Bass had interception for the Bears with a 50-yard return.
Bernard Lackey had 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble, and 1 fumble return touchdown.
Caleb Bryant had 1.5 sacks, and Ryshawn Perry had 0.5 sacks.
The team had another forced fumble and Demarcus Johnson had 1 fumble recovery.
The Bears finished 1-9 on the season after the 13-12 loss to East Central.
Jakhari Williams led the team in passing on the season with 1642 passing yards and 6 passing touchdowns with 12 interceptions.
Ronde Baker led the team in rushing on the season with 656 rushing yards and 6 rushing touchdowns.
Will Smith had 210 rushing yards and followed by Nyrikius Johnson with 132 rushing yards.
Tahj Williby led the team in receiving on the season with 404 receiving yards on 26 receptions with 3 receiving touchdowns.
Zay Martin followed with 355 receiving yards on 32 receptions and 1 touchdown.
Deori Pope had 264 receiving yards on 12 receptions with 1 touchdown.
AJ Lewis Jr. had 252 receiving yards on 21 receptions with 1 touchdown.
Bryhsen Smith had 204 receiving yards on 21 receptions.
Simon Naylor made 8 field goals on the season with a long of 52 yards.
Alan Long had 51 punts for 1971 punt yards on the season with 22 inside the 20-yard line.
Keena Galloway Jr. had 16 kick returns for 393 yards with a long return of 50 yards.
Fred Nicholson led the team in total tackles with 54 on the season. Jordan Magee was right behind him with 49 total tackles followed by Bernard Lackey with 46.
Caleb Bryant led team with 4.5 sacks on the season, followed by Demarcus Johnson with 3.5 sacks.
Caleb Bryant also led the team with 10.5 tackles for loss on the season followed by Jordan Magee with 8.5 and Demarcus Johnson with 8.0.
Demarcus Johnson led the team with 2 forced fumbles on the season followed by Bernard Lackey and Henry Funches with 1 each.
Bernard Lackey had 2 fumble recoveries for 163 return yards and 2 fumble recovery touchdowns on the season. Caleb Bryant also had 1 fumble recovery with 1 recovery touchdown. Miles Adam, Demarcus Johnson, and Fred Nicholson each had 1 fumble recovery as well.
Bernard Lackey and Kaleb Perry lead the team with 2 interceptions each on the season. Nemo Sowders, Henry Funches, Miles Bass, and JJ Moultrie each had 1 interception on the season.
