Bears fall to 0-3 in district
JV Bears set to take the field
By Greg Moore
Banner Sports Editor
With many 8th grade football players moving up to play a few JV games, the Bears put a different look on the field. Settling in nicely at the quarterback position, Brody Dockery found open receivers all night with good protection from his front line. His favorite seemed to be Drake Bratcher, who is just a football player. Bratcher, who has quarterbacked, lined up all over the field to catch a touchdown and a two-point conversion pass from Dockery; and, he had a touchdown plunge behind Eli Oaks leading the way another time.
Brody Dockery scrambling past diving defenders.
Oaks, himself, ran several good runs out of the backfield and caught some short passes, too. Keaton Deweese and Caleb Brown also hauled in some throws from Dockery, who spread it around besides being locked in with only Bratcher.
Eli Oaks churning out yardage from the backfield.
On defense, the Bears bent, but they never broke, holding the Tigers scoreless throughout the entire game. Deweese had an exceptional stop in the open field on a fourth down play; plus, Dockery patrolled from the safety position to help eliminate extra damage when the visitors from Breckinridge County got to the next level on any threat to score. The JV squad came away with a 20-0 victory.
Keaton Deweese on a big fourth down stop.
Unfortunately, the losses kept coming on Friday nights by the Bears. Playing in the brutal, Class 3A, District 2, Adair County (6-1 overall, 3-1 class, 2-1 district coming in) set the tone early, scoring with less than two minutes off the clock. A three-and-out by the Bears followed. Two plays later and the Indians were scoring again with help from a hold that was not called.
Regardless, the Indians still did enough to defeat their own purpose had the Bears played a textbook-script without much deter. But the Bears still got exposed on long hauls and open receptions when the Indians wanted to dial it up. With only four minutes gone in the second quarter, the visiting Indians had silenced the home crowd on senior night, going up, 28-0.
Clayton Deweese, Kellon Meredith, and Trevor Deweese all helped move the chains down the field on the Bears next drive. In addition, Maddox Moore burst through a good opening from the line to race about 20 yards up to near the redzone. After a holding call, Meredith slipped behind the defense—as he casually does—to catch a touchdown throw from Garrett Phelps, to give the Bears their first score.
The Indians gashed the defense on two more long runs before the half to extend the once, 28-6 advantage, out to 42-6. With the clock running throughout the second half, the game went quickly. Phelps found the goal line on a short run for the only score, making the final, 42-12.
The Bears are set to play at Glasgow (3-5, 1-3, 0-3) this Friday night. Glasgow, who is always solid, lost to Hart County last week, but only 15-7. If the Bears (0-8, 0-4, 0-3) were to upset the Scotties, they would still earn a playoff berth. Otherwise, they will look to find their lone win against the winless Eagles from Ohio County, who have only scored 37 points all season.
