Bears to celebrate homecoming against Legacy Sports

This is Week 6 of the high school football season in Texas. It represents roughly the half way point of the year for the players and coaches with five weeks behind them and five weeks left in the season after this Friday.

The Little Cypress Mauriceville Bears are 2-2 in their games played after having their bye this past week. This Friday's game will be the final contest before the start of district action the first Friday in October.

LCM head football coach Eric Peevey evaluated the Bears' progress to this point. "We've had our ups and we've had our downs. We spent a lot of time this last week on the off week going over just the little things we've been doing wrong from penalties to turnovers, just the way we're playing defense and the way we're playing offense. We went back to a lot of the basics on a lot of things and got better at it," Peevey pointed out.

This week's game is the final preparation before the start of district for Little Cypress Mauriceville. Peevey continued, "We have a big game this week with Spring Legacy which is a very talented football team, and they've played a lot of our area's local teams. We know they're very talented, so it's going to be a big week for us to try to put everything together."

One of the Bears who had a great week during the bye is Dylan Payne the quarterback. "We practiced a lot of things that have been causing Dylan problems, and I thought he really stepped up big time with that. This is Dylan's first year as the starting quarterback and in our system there's a lot of learning and he's learning on the fly. He's getting to where we need him to be ready for the start of district. This is going to be a big week for Dylan," Peevey indicated.

Other young Bears are improving. Running backs J'Lynn Morris and Jonah Fuller are both getting more carries with the football.

There has been some shuffling in the offensive and the defensive lineups. Peevey believes, "I feel like our offensive line is starting to really figure out how we play football. On the offensive side of it I feel like the Bears are further ahead than I thought we were going to be, but we've got to continue working at it and get better at the little things. Defensively, it's the same thing we're moving kids in and out trying to figure out who fits in where and what they need. With young players we the coaches have to do that. We got a lot of things fixed this last week and I feel like the Bears will be ready to go."

Legacy School of Sports Sciences a private school out of Spring comes to town on Friday to play LCM. The Titans are 4-1 on their season with wins over Orangefield, Jasper, Huffman, and Livingston from local UIL districts.

Running the Spread Offense the Titans have multiple dangerous skill personnel to give the football. The offense revolves around their quarterback Keisean Henderson who is an excellent passer.

The leading rusher for Legacy is senior running back Ahmare Merrida who is very talented. "The Legacy offense goes as those two go. The Titans have multiple receivers they can throw to, but it really comes down to the running back and the quarterback," Peevey analyzed.

What Peevey called the largest offensive line he has ever seen helps Henderson find time to throw the football and Merrida have holes to run through. The Titan blockers average about 6-3 and 305 to 310 pounds. Peevey stated, "They rival many colleges on the size of their offensive line."

"They're very talented. We've got to make sure that we keep the big play away from them. The Titans live and breathe by the big play, the big chunks of yardage. That's our key is to make sure we keep the ball in front of us and make them earn everything because they have a tendency to make some mistakes and do some penalties," Peevey emphasized.

On defense the Titans are 4-3 or 4-2-5 in their alignment. They will go from cover zero or into a zone for pass coverage.

The two standouts for Legacy on defense are in the defensive live with Traeyvon Edmond at 6-3 and 235 pounds a big mobile defensive end and Jayvon Dean bigger in size moving between end, tackle and middle linebacker for the Titans. Peevey said, "Those two are the strength of their defense. They really cause a lot of problems on the interior and allows the other Titans behind them to just kind of run free."

In the secondary is Joseph Smith. He may be the best cornerback Peevey has seen in high school football in a long time. "Very talented corner, very active, and Smith's also their best punt and kick returner so we've got to make sure we keep the ball away him," Peevey emphasized.

"They're very talented on defense just like they are on offense. The Titans do some things we definitely feel like we can take advantage of. I feel very confident that if we come out and play our style of ball that we'll be okay," Peevey assured.

Last year's game was won 50-34 by the Bears against many of the same Titans. "The goal for this week is to see us play a good, physical, clean football game without all the extra penalties and all the extra non-sense. I want to watch our young Bears come out and play a clean football game without the penalties and mental mistakes, but also a physical football game would be our strength against them this week," Peevey concluded.

Friday's game between the Little Cypress Mauriceville Bears and the Legacy School of Sport Sciences Titans will be at Battlin' Bear Stadium. The kickoff will be at 7:30 PM and homecoming will be celebrated by Little Cypress Mauriceville High School.