Bears host Huffman in district finale

The opportunity to repeat as district champions is gone for the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears after last week’s loss. The Bears are now playing to secure third place in their district and gain some momentum heading into the post season.

The Bears were hoping for a win last week at Lumberton that would have moved them into a three-way tie for first place with the Raiders and the Vidor Pirates. The Raiders dominated LCM to remain undefeated and in sole possession of first place in the district with just one game to play.

Coach Eric Peevey of the Bears was disappointed in their performance against Lumberton. “We just got pushed around by a very physical team, and we had a lot of mental mistakes. We’ve just got to get those things fixed,” Peevey admitted.

Despite surrendering 41 points Peevey thought the Bears’ defense actually played well at times. Peevey explained, “Our offense kept putting them in bad spots with fumbles and turnovers. The first kick of the game not catching a pooch kick and letting it drop and the Raiders getting it. We had some mistakes that we put our defense in bad spots, but I felt like our defense rose to the occasion and caused some punts and made Lumberton go for multiple field goals. I felt like our defense overall played pretty well.”

The loss for LCM was not just on the scoreboard. Two Bears were injured in the game. Wide Receiver Isaiah Picard hurt his shoulder. Tight end Jordan Pollack re-injured his knee. Defensive lineman Jose Molina suffered a concussion during a practice earlier in the week and did not play against the Raiders.

The final game of the regular season for Little Cypress-Mauriceville will be at home against the Huffman Falcons. This game pits two wide open offenses against each other.

The Falcons have used multiple players at quarterback this season but seemed to have settled on senior Tyson Woodland as the starter. Woodland had an excellent first half against Vidor last week when Huffman was tied with the Pirates 20-20 before losing 48-34 in the game.

Woodland directs the Falcons’ offense primarily with passes all over the field. They probably are about 70 percent pass in their play calls.

The main target of Woodland’s tosses is Tyler Wilkins a returner for Huffman who caught 10 touchdown passes a year ago. “It seems like they’re trying to find a way to get him the ball. The Falcons are young in some spots, but they are senior loaded at receiver, and they are definitely a pass first type team,” Peevey pointed out.

How good the LCM secondary is will be become evident in the game with Huffman. Peevey responded, “We’ll find out because they will throw the ball. I really feel like our pass rush is going to do a good job of getting to Woodland so that will be a positive, but in the secondary we’ve just got to be ready to defend all sorts of different types of level routes and make sure that our eyes aren’t looking at the quarterback but are looking at our reads. We know what’s coming this week that’s a positive, we know they’re going to throw it and throw it a lot so we’ve got to be ready for that.”

Huffman lines up in a 3-3 Stack on defense. The Falcons use man coverage in their secondary. They are somewhat young on the defensive side of the football with only three returning starters.

The Falcons like to send a lot of pressure on the opposing quarterback. LCM scouts report and film has shown that Huffman went to more blitzes the last two games against Lumberton and Vidor.

Defensive end Will Swartz is maybe the best player for the Falcons on that side of the ball. Swartz does a good job getting to the quarterback and does well against the run.

Jesse Holcombe is the inside linebacker for Huffman. Holcombe plugs run attempts in the middle.

Since the start of district Huffman has yielded an average of over 40 points a game that includes a shutout of Splendora. “They’re more of a chaotic defense, kind of an organized chaos. They going to send a lot of heat and blitzes. We’re going to do a good job with our offensive line getting them prepared for that, and I feel like that kind of gives us the tendency to be able to run well. If you hit the open gap when they’re blitzing like that you usually can go a long way,” Peevey expressed.

A win for the Bears against Huffman clinches third place for Little Cypress-Mauriceville. If the Bears lose by more than 15 points it would force a tie-breaker scenario involving the three teams of LCM, Huffman, and Livingston to determine the third and fourth seeds from the district.

The goal on Friday night for the Bears is to get a win and guarantee a trip to the post season. “When you control your own destiny you want to take care of that. We definitely don’t want to go to the playoffs with a loss,” Peevey concluded.

Friday night is also Senior Night for the Bears honoring them. The game is scheduled for 7:30 PM at Battlin’ Bear Stadium between the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears and the Huffman Falcons.