The future is officially bright for the Bearden Bears football team. This past Friday night was the scary night with Friday the 13th occurring that night. The only thing scary is how good the young players are going to be after leading the Bears to a dominating 49-14 win over the Baptist Prep Eagles on Homecoming Night.
The Bears started hot, with sophomore Markevius Jimerson returning a 75-yard kickoff for a touchdown. A two-yard run from Bears running back Matthew Chambers for the two-point conversion was good to put Bearden up 8-0 up 13 seconds into the game.
After a three-and-out from the Eagles, the Bears didn't waste any time to get the second touchdown of the game. In the first play from scrimmage for the Bears offense, the Bears ran a trick play with Jimerson taking a reverse and throwing a deep pass for 38 yards to Treydon Quarles. The following play, junior quarterback Bryce Whisenhunt took a quarterback keeper for a 52-yard touchdown. The Bears extended their lead 14-0 with 9:52 left in the first quarter.
The Eagles were to bounce back by utilizing their progressive passing game. They had two big plays that were for 30 yards or more. Just as the Eagles got into the red zone, Bears' defensive end Hunter Hudson accounted for a big sack for a loss of ten yards on first down. The Bears forced a turnover on downs in the red zone.
Bearden attempted to score after a solid defensive stop to be up by three scores. The Bears found a way to drive the ball just a few yards from the red zone. A bad connection on the snap followed by a sack from the Eagles forced the Bears to punt the ball. On the punt, junior Jk'Von Cones was able to get the muffed punt return catch for the first turnover of the game.
On the next drive for the Eagles, Baptist Prep continued to fall victim to the special team woes of the Bears. Punting from their endzone, the punter failed to recover the snap allowing freshman Matthew Chambers to recover in the endzone for a touchdown to go up 21-0. This was the second touchdown of the Bears from special teams.
In the last full drive of Bearden, the Bears mixed up the offensive schemes by attacking the Eagles' defense through the air and on the ground. This was the drive that showed the Bears' toughness. During a big sack, Whisenhunt got hit in the ribs and was slow to get up. Two plays later, he ran a tough 23-RPO play on the ground and connected with Quarles for a 20-yard pass play. The Bears took a seven-play; 86-yard drive to the end zone thanks to a four-yard from Chambers for a touchdown. Whisenhunt converted the two-point conversion on the two-yard RPO run as the Bears went into halftime with a 29-0 score.
It was a busy third quarter as there were four scoring drives, a turnover by fumble and a turnover on downs.
The Eagles got on the board first with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Malachi Jones to wide receiver Titus Yager to lower the deficit to 29-7. The Bears answered right back with a dominant performance on the ground. Bearden took a seven-play; 54-yard drive of all run plays that was highlighted by a 14-yard scoring run from Chambers.
Baptist Prep had its best drive of the game by spotting mismatches in the Bears' secondary. The Eagles took a three-play drive of 69 yards highlighted. Jones found Yager on a 16-yard play to lower the deficit to 35-14.
Bearden had a chance to respond, but a fumble from Chambers on the third play of the drive was picked up by the Eagles' defense. After recovering the ball at midfield, the Eagles attempted to use this momentum to get back into the back. The Bears' defense remained strong to hold the Eagles to a turnover on downs in only four plays.
One play later, Whisenhunt took the ball and found his way to a 48-yard run from Whisenhunt. The two-point conversion run from Chambers increased the Bears' lead to 43-14 with 1:06 left in the third quarter.
In the final full drive for the Eagles, they were desperate to try and get a deep passing game going for one more score. Chambers came off the edge with aggression and speed and sacked Jones twice to force a punt. The Bears were looking to run down the clock, but the Bears gassed out the Eagles' defense. It took four plays and 46 yards for the Bears to score, with the final Bears' play from junior Tristan Olvey on a 24-yard run to bring the score 49-14 to seal the game.
The Bears finished with 432 total yards accounted for, 285 of them coming from the rushing game. The Bears rarely had penalties and only turned the ball over late in the game. This was a key objective for the Bears within the past couple of weeks, which is executing and playing mistake-free ball.
Whisenhunt was an efficient passer and game-manager for the Bears' offense. Whisenhunt completed 8-of-10 of his passes for 109 yards and an interception late in the game. He also rushed for 130 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries.
Chambers was an electrifying playmaker on both sides of the ball for the Bears. Offensively, he rushed for 71 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries. Defensively, Chambers was an explosive playmaker off the edge. His speed, strength and agility were key in chasing down the quarterbacks to make big stops in the backfield. Chambers accounted for four total tackles, three sacks and a tackle for loss. He also recovered the fumble on special teams in the endzone.
Jimerson was a dynamic playmaker in every phase of the game. He caught three receptions for 29 yards, completed a 38-yard pass in the opening drive, returned the 75-yard kickoff for a touchdown in the first play of the game and accounted for three total tackles and a tackle for loss.
Sophomore Williams Nettles rushed for 46 yards on eight carries. Tristan had the 23-yard touchdown run at the end of the game on offense while accounting for two and a half tackles, a forced fumble and two pass breakups.
"We started off fast offensively," Head Coach Brandon Austin said after the game. "I feel like we moved the ball well, executed with no self-inflicted wounds, no penalties early. That was a big part of the day. When you beat yourself, it's pretty tough, but just come out and play great football, we'll show up on the scoreboard, it was a great job."
The Bearden Bears (4-4; 3-1 in 2A-4 conference play) move to third place in conference play, just behind Carlisle and Hazen. Last season, the Bears were 1-9 in the season under the first season of Austin as head coach. In the season before, the Bears didn't play a game.
The Bears are set for a legitimate playoff appearance at the end of the season, thanks to the playoff format. The future is bright for the Bears as many of their explosive talent are juniors, sophomores and freshmen.
Photo By: Michael Hanich
Bearden Bears quarterback Bryce Whisenhunt throws the ball to an open receiver in the game against Baptist Prep. Whisenhunt completed 8-of-10 of his passes for 109 yards and an interception. He also rushed for 130 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries.