Bears await 2-0 Cardinals in Orange County tilt

[Bobcatfan4life]

Bears await 2-0 Cardinals in Orange County tilt

Gabriel Pruett

The Orange Leader

LITTLE CYPRESS — For the second week in a row the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Battlin’ Bears are having to prepare for an Orange County opponent.

This time it is the Bridge City Cardinals staring down the Bears as the two teams will meet tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Battlin’ Bear Stadium.

The Bears (0-1) lost 28-14 to the West Orange Stark Mustangs while the Cardinals are 2-0 after wins against Liberty and Kountze.

The speed of the game might slow down for the Bears but coach Randy Crouch knows the Cardinals are not an opponent LC-M wants to overlook.

“I know Bridge City will be ready to play,†Crouch said. “They will be excited to play and are 2-0 on the season. Bridge City has done a great job on special teams this year and have looked good on both offense and defense. Coach (Cris) Stump and his staff have really prepared them well.â€

The Cardinals come into tonight’s game averaging 269 yards of offense with Matt Menard leading the way with 192 yards on the ground and three touchdowns.

Josh Lemoine is 9-of-24 passing with one touchdown and 126 yards.

Cameron Dishon has both Cardinals’ receiving touchdowns on three catches. He also returned the initial kickoff back for a touchdown for Bridge City in the first game of the year.

“The games keep getting bigger,†Stump said. “This will be our biggest test we have played so far. Their offense seemed to move the ball and cause West Orange-Stark some problem. Then their defense bent but didn’t break a few times. That quarterback (Hunter Gonzales is pretty good) and No. 2 (Johnny Epps) is someone we will have to keep our eyes on.â€

Gonzales passed for 137 yards against the Mustangs and rushed for 27 yards with a touchdown. Epps caught four passes for 21 yards. Zack Sonnier caught three passes for 37 yards.The Bears had 193 yards of offense against the Mustangs.

“I didn’t get a chance to see the Bears last year but I know Coach Crouch has those guys motivated,†Stump said. “He has changed the atmosphere over there all the way from the coaches on down. Their kids are excited.â€

Stump knows his Cardinals cannot be too comfortable being 2-0 to start the year.

“You have to be careful,†Stump added. “We are not 3-0. We are 2-0 and it is all about what have you done for me lately. Our guys have some confidence and we are focused on LC-M.â€

Crouch is looking for his Bears to play hard for a full 48 minutes to keep the pressure on the Cardinals the entire game.

“We looked great at times and then made mistakes at other times,†Crouch said. “We can’t have those lulls. I think our kids competed hard and I appreciated the effort. Now we need to see if we can do it for two weeks in a row.

“All the opponents we play this year are good football teams. West Orange presents such a problem because of all the speed they have. It gives you a chance as a coach to see how your kids will play so you can make some assessments. It still comes down to blocking and tackling and we need to make some improvements in those areas.â€

Stump knows the Cardinals will have to light up the scoreboard to make sure Bridge City wins tonight.

“We will have to put some points up there,†Stump said. “They are going to try and gang up on Matt so we better be ready to pass the ball. Both sets of kids are going to be fired up when kickoff comes.â€