Bears getting ready for start of football season

The high school football season is just two weeks away, and Little Cypress-Mauriceville is predicted to have a good year. The Bears are picked fifteenth in the state in Class 4-A, Division I and near the top of their district standings.

The Bears had a great scrimmage last week to prepare them for the upcoming regular season. LCM played the Orangefield Bobcats in a controlled scrimmage that was very physical.

Bears' Coach Eric Peevey thought his team played well in the scrimmage with Orangefield. "I thought our receivers caught the ball well even though we had a couple of drops that we need to work on. Running the ball we've got to get a little bit better at. The O-line did well, but they could've done better in my opinion," Peevey evaluated.

This was somewhat of a repeat of last year's scrimmage for the Bears with Orangefield. Peevey elaborated, "Last year we didn't run very well against Orangefield, and this year we ran better but we're still not where we need to get."

The Little Cypress-Mauriceville defense did very well according to Peevey. "I felt the defense did great for as young as we are on that side of the ball. Of course the defensive line stood out because that's most of our returners on defense. I feel our secondary did really good checks and alignments with their Slot-T. There were some busts, but we ran to the ball pretty well, we tackled pretty well, and gave up one big play. Besides that the Bears hung in there and played against a really physical group at Orangefield so that was something positive for me to see," Peevey summarized.

Several Bears had outstanding performances in the scrimmage including quarterback Dean Reynolds. He made some great reads and threw the ball very well in addition to breaking a long run for a touchdown. Peevey commented, "That's what we're looking for, him showing people that he can run which he can."

Tight end Jacob Pollock caught the ball on several of Reynolds' passes. Pollock blocked well joining the other members of the offensive line including center Brady Wright who played his first game at center moving there from right tackle. Wright had no bad snaps in the Spread formation which Peevey pointed out is a key to the Bears' offense.

Da'Marion Morris had limited carries in the scrimmage against Orangefield. "We kind of know what we're getting from him so we really worked with our younger guys," Peevey advised. Morris should see the ball more in the second scrimmage and obviously when the season begins in another week.

Defensive ends Amier Washington and Jarves Riley were menacing to the Orangefield running game. Luke McDow at middle linebacker played very well. Peevey indicated McDow had a couple missed tackles but he was around or near every tackle when he was in the contest. Peevey indicated, "That's what we're looking for in a Mike-linebacker."

Willie-linebacker William Payne had some busted assignments but was always running to the ball which is the emphasis for Peevey and the coaches when evaluating the outside linebackers for Little Cypress-Mauriceville. "Overall, I thought it was a pretty good effort," Peevey stated.

Some bad news of the scrimmage with Orangefield was an injury to a starter who plays on the offense and the defense. DJ Roberts the senior wide receiver and corner back hurt his knee.

The severity of the injury to Roberts was not known early this week, but DJ will miss the upcoming scrimmage and his status for the remainder of the season is somewhat up in the air until the full extent of the injury is known. Peevey replied, "That was kind of a knock for us losing a two-way starter, and he was one of the few receivers we had with experience coming back and the same thing at corner. We'll find out the status of his knee in the next couple of days."

A final test for Little Cypress-Mauriceville before the start of the regular season is a scrimmage at Port Neches-Groves this week. The Indians have a new coach who altered some of the traditional offensive and defensive sets that have been used in previous years at PNG.

This scrimmage will be the reverse of the first one with Orangefield where the Bears had the numbers in their favor. The Indians will have no two-way players on the field while the Bears will have some playing both offense and defense in the scrimmage.

Port Neches-Groves did not play a previous scrimmage so Coach Peevey has no film on the Indians and their new system. The coach knows from past history the Indians will be a big physical team.

It should be a good test for Little Cypress-Mauriceville to play a 5-A school like the Indians who are picked second in their district. "I'm excited about this scrimmage. I think Coach Joseph is going to have his kids ready to play. This is their only scrimmage so they're going to come out fired up and ready to go. We get to go play at the Indians' stadium which always has a big crowd. I'm excited about our kids opportunity this week to play a bigger school, a more physical type team, and we've got to get to that level. Everybody talks if you want to hang on the porch with the big dogs than you better be a dog yourself, and that's what I need this week, I need some dogs to show up and be ready to play a big physical team," Peevey concluded.

The scrimmage between Little Cypress-Mauriceville and Port Neches-Groves will be in Port Neches. It is scheduled to begin on Thursday night at seven.

Meanwhile, work is being done to get Battlin' Bear Stadium ready for football. The new digital scoreboard could be erected as early as this week or next. New fencing is also going up around the stands.

Peevey reported that all the rock is in for the base of the new artificial turf that is being installed. Asphalt should be laid shortly for the track that will surround the football field.

The updated Bears' football schedule shows that their home games for Week 1 between LCM and Hardin-Jefferson has been moved to Memorial Stadium in Beaumont, and the Week 2 game with West Orange-Stark will be played at Bridge City. Two road games then follow that could set the stage for the first home game to be played on the new field.

Week 5 the Bears could play their first game on the new field. "What we're looking at schedule wise is our off week, September 23, or possibly our junior varsity could play on it the week of the Kinkaid game, September 16, and then the next week we will play Legacy Sports Academy here for homecoming that will be September 30. Hopefully, we'll have a week to practice on it and then get to play on it the next week," Peevey predicted.