Cordele Dispatch, Cordele, GA

Local Sports

September 8, 2010

Cougars take aim at Bears

Harvey Simpson Cordele Dispatch

Cordele — CORDELE — Crisp County High’s Cougars will take their “shotgun” with them when they do a little Bear hunting Friday night at International City Stadium in Warner Robins.

Their target will be Houston County’s Bears, who after finishing 3-7 in 2009 when their string of consecutive Region 1-AAAAA losses reached 21, are off to a 1-0 start in 2010 via a 10-9 win over Perry on Aug. 27.

“They’re a Warner Robins (based) team so you know they’re going to be pretty good,” new Crisp head coach Sean Pender said in an implied reference to the Northside and Warner Robins High programs that have excelled in recent years.

“They’ve got a big offensive line and 20-something (27 to be exact) returning seniors (which should help them improve their recent records now that they’ve dropped a classification to Class AAAA).

“Having seen films of their win over Perry and their (lightning-halted) scrimmage against Jones County, the thing that impresses me most about them is that they find ways to win with their special teams.

“They’ve got a good kicker who’s going to get them points if they stall when they enter the red zone and a punter who can switch field position around on you in a hurry. They also blocked a punt to set up their winning field goal against Perry.”

After employing the wing-T formation as its base offense last season (their second under former Dodge County mentor Greg Robinson), the current Bears squad has gone to a spread look that’s similar to the one the Cougars are currently using.

“They line up in the shotgun with usually two backs but oftentimes will go with just one (fullback Ron Brown). The quarterback (Tyler Hall, who was the team’s second leading rusher in 2009) isn’t bad and their receivers run disciplined routes although they don’t throw as much as we do.

“Defensively,” Pender continued in sharing the scouting report Crisp has compiled on Houston, “they go with a 4-4 front that includes a defensive line that isn’t bad, some experienced linebackers and a good free safety.”

The Bears are led in the defensive trenches by tackles Chauncey Green and Tyler Jackson and ends Trey Grissett and Isaiah Baskin. Heading up their linebacker corps are Jah’hvann Thompson and Lawson Howell. Jordan Woodman is the leader of the secondary.

“We may be a little quicker; they may have a little size,” Pender said in his overall evaluation of the Bears. “They’ll be a solid program and team for us to contend with on our first road trip of the season.”

The meeting will be only the fifth in the history of the two schools who have yet to play each other close. Crisp won the first two encounters by 55-13 and 42-20 scores in 1996-97. Houston took the last two by 35-16 and 28-7 counts in 2004-05.

Touching briefly on the now 1-1 Cougars’ 30-24 loss to Troup County this past Friday night, Pender said game films pretty much verified the thoughts he verbally revealed right after the contest.

“That game could well turn out to be a good learning experience for us. We had our chances to win, but didn’t take advantage of them. Hopefully, we can do better this week.

“Right now, the extra-point situation is of concern to us as we failed to convert a single time (after scoring four touchdowns). We also want better execution with our no-huddle offense, although it did work fairly well against Troup.”

Crisp has no injury concerns entering this week’s game. However, wide receiver/defensive back D.J. Jackson won’t suit up.

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